I’m not sure this is an obvious perspective to most people in America.
I’m very pro public awareness which educates the layman on what information these companies are collecting, how they’re using it, and how long it can affect you for.
Especially for the older generations which seem more susceptible to actual fake news, and may have a lesser understanding of what this tech is and how it works.
And especially for younger generations who may not instinctively realize that every button they click, picture they post, and website they browse is being mined, logged, harvested, aggregated, and sold to anyone who asks for it with a couple bucks to spare.
Also, as the parent to your comment stated, I didn’t know there was a data breach Wednesday, and I’m a software engineer.
It’s funny. When the media doesn’t cover something enough, people say “why is CNN talking about the Kardashians?? Climate change is happening!”. Seems the converse occurs too “Why is the NYT covering this again!”
An editorial is not intended to produce new content, e.g. report on new news, only to state opinions about the known state of an issue. To that end, this article cites a great deal of highly detailed content to which it links towards in making its argument. I had no idea there was a newly reported data breach just on wednesday this week, for example. I'm also certain that tens of thousands of people will first learn of FB's new dating initiative via this editorial, and in that regard it is valuable that the NYT will put a much needed cautionary spin on this information. Too many people still have no regard for the harm they do to not just themselves but all of their social contacts who have any digital connection to them whatsoever when they give too much information to companies like Facebook.
it is most certainly valid to point out how inappropriate it would be to begin giving Facebook a whole new class of sensitive, personal content for which they can mishandle and sell to foreign governments for illicit or unethical purposes.