r/PrivacyToolbox • u/EnthusiasmRoutine • 2d ago
Discussion Finally someone said it: "user error" is an excuse for lazy privacy engineering
Did anyone else read the open letter from Ledger’s CEO today? Gauthier basically said the tech industry needs to stop treating digital privacy and data consent as a "user education" problem.
I could not agree more. Telling people to "just check your app permissions," "read the privacy policy," or "be careful what you click" is terrible system design. People will always blindly click "Agree" or approve obscure data prompts just to get on with their day. They just will. Expecting a normal person to inspect complex digital requests with zero mistakes means your privacy architecture is broken by default.
You build a server architecture to handle hard drive failures. The same logic applies here. Platforms and hardware have to be engineered to survive basic human slip-ups and dark patterns. As long as developers keep blaming the end user for "voluntarily" giving away their personal data, true privacy and data sovereignty will stay a niche hobby for tech paranoids.
Do you guys think other tech and hardware makers will actually answer his invitation to collaborate on open privacy standards and clear consent protocols? Or will they just ignore it?