The Privacy Paradox: FAQ

Hello! If you don't see an answer to your question here, you can get in touch at [email protected]. We'll read all your emails and respond as best we can, even if it takes a few days. We'll be updating this page as the questions come in. 1. Questions About the Privacy Paradox 2. Questions About the Team 3. Press Inquiries

1. What is the Privacy Paradox?

It’s a five-day series of challenges, newsletters and mini-podcasts, that will help you take back control over your personal information and digital identity.

It’s also the term behavioral economists use to describe the disconnect between our feelings about digital privacy (we value it!) and how we act online (we give privacy away!).

2. Why should I sign up for the Privacy Paradox project?

Because you’ll be part of a community that also wants to know where their information goes, what the trade-offs involve, and how they can live a better life, online and off. Plus, privacy is right. Claim it before it drip, drip, drips away.

3. But I don’t have anything to hide! Tell me again why I should do this?

Because a life without shadows is a flat life. You don’t have to be subversive to want to live in a world where your every thought and action is not tracked and quantified. Free will, anyone? Also, what about people who DO have something to hide? Be a mensch. If everyone protects their privacy, it won’t be considered “suspicious.”

4. How will the project work?

It’s easy. Put in your email address at PrivacyParadox.org. And yes, we promise to protect it. Then, if you want a thought-provoking giggle, take our Privacy Personality Quiz. Find out if you are The Believer, The Realist, or The Shrugger.

Then, every morning, you’ll get a special newsletter that includes mini-podcast with the experts behind that day’s challenge. And tips. Lots of tips.

5. What happens at the end?

Good stuff. We don’t want to ruin the surprise but you’ll get easy tip sheets to take with you and share. And we’ll measure how people want to move forward afterwards. We have some ideas. More soon.

5. I missed the launch date! You said it started February 6th - can I still join?

You bet. Just sign up for the newsletter, and you’ll get the launch newsletter. Then, for five days after that, you’ll get a challenge newsletter in your inbox.  

6. Do you really know what you’re doing?

Yes. Amazing people like inventor of the web and 4th Amendment legal experts have helped us create the Privacy Paradox. And we’ve done these big interactive projects before. Check out Bored and Brilliant and Infomagical. This is the new digital literacy, sugar.

7. What is Note to Self?

A ridiculously fun and smart podcast for anyone trying to preserve their humanity in the digital age, if we do say so ourselves. We call it the tech show about being human. You can find us on Twitter @NoteToSelf and on Facebook at Note to Self Radio. We're produced and distributed by WNYC Studios – home to Radiolab, On the Media, Freakonomics and more.

8. Who is Manoush Zomorodi?

Manoush is a hard-core journalist and also kind of a weird public radio mash-up between Morgan Spurlock and Tina Fey. She tweets @manoushz. You can learn more about her here.

9. You didn't answer my question. How do I get in touch?

Feel free to send us a message on Facebook, Twitter, or email (notetoself[at]wnyc[dot]org.)

10. I want to write about The Privacy Paradox/Infomagical/Note to Self/Bored and Brilliant/Manoush Zomorodi/WNYC Studios. Who do I talk to?

Awesome, we’d love to talk to you. You can contact Senior Director of Publicity Jennifer Houlihan at [email protected].