Does anyone actually care about privacy in tech? [Survey]

With an ever increasing amount of private data leaked, hacked, accessed, or eavesdropped on, it would seem that people should be fed up with the lack of care for their sensitive material.

What we are observing in public and private markets would say otherwise.

Facebook feels no privacy backlash

After a tough quarter of public backlash against Facebook and their data practices, the stock went soaring 15% on the back of strong revenue growth seemingly from better targeting of ads to users.

Interestingly, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Just Post asked Facebook's Dave Wehner about this on their earnings call. Post asked, "...pretty rough press cycle in Q4. Did you see any impact in the U.S. and Europe on engagement or usage or people closing their accounts?"

Wehner's seemingly tongue-in-cheek reply, "about the impact of the -- of the press cycle, I would just probably just let the numbers stand for themselves."

Apple doesn't seem to be affected either

Just after Apple made some splashy marketing play, a glitch is reported by a child that allows Facetime Group chatter to listen in to other people's conversations without them knowing. And Apple stock? Up 7% this week.

While the press is jumping at these tech whipping posts, public reaction seems to be mixed. On January 29, 2019 I surveyed 4,700+ twitter users to see "How will Apple's Facetime privacy big affect app usage?"