Have your say on Edward Snowden’s impact, as well as Uber’s privacy promises, teenage revenge porn, Foursquare and more

In November, a study released by the Canadian Centre for International Governance claimed that while 60% of internet users had heard of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, only 39% of those people had taken additional steps to protect their online privacy as a result.

The latter seemed like a disheartening statistic: how could people read the Snowden revelations – including numerous spin-off articles on how to better protect your privacy online – and not take action? But wait a minute: security expert Bruce Schneier thinks that was the wrong conclusion to draw.

“I disagree with the “Edward Snowden Revelations Not Having Much Impact on Internet Users” headline. He’s having an enormous impact,” wrote Schneier in a blog post.

“I ran the actual numbers country by country, combining data on Internet penetration with data from this survey. Multiplying everything out, I calculate that 706 million people have changed their behavior on the Internet because of what the NSA and GCHQ are doing... Note that the countries in this survey only cover 4.7 billion out of a total 7 billion world population. Taking the conservative estimates that 20% of the remaining population uses the Internet, 40% of them have heard of Snowden, and 25% of those have done something about it, that’s an additional 46 million people around the world.”

Perhaps that 39% stat isn’t as bleak after all, but are there ways to persuade the remaining 61% – and remember, this is just internet users who’ve heard of Edward Snowden – to take measures too? The comments section is open for your thoughts.

What else? Here are some more stories to think about today:

Recent media coverage of taxi-app firm Uber’s privacy policies led US senator Al Franken to demand some answers. Now the company has provided them, in a letter released by his office. “Uber has always had a strong culture of protecting rider information...”

Pando Daily reports on a new study by anti-bullying group Ditch the Label. “Some 24 percent of British teenagers have had nude images published online without their consent... 26 percent reported suicidal thoughts, 12 percent tried to kill themselves, and 5 percent left school or college.”

One issue highlighted by Uber’s recent controversies was the fact that our data can be misused without leaving a company, if employees access it when they shouldn’t be, or with inappropriate intentions. BuzzFeed asked 29 tech firms questions about their internal privacy policies, and only 13 responded, with many of them remaining silent.

A couple of years ago, this would likely have been a standalone story. In 2014, though, Foursquare’s profile hasn’t been as high, despite its reinvention as two separate apps: Foursquare and Swarm, dividing its city-guide aspects from its check-ins. Can its new iPad app win it more users? “It’s the perfect way to get inspiration for your next getaway...”

The perfect Christmas gift for you or your significant other, perhaps... “A few tweaks and we’ll have a cheap robust male chastity device with a magic locker and a pull-out detector, available in a huge range of styles and sizes, 3D-printed on demand.”

What else? The comments section is open for your feedback on the stories above, and your recommendation of other links for the community to discuss.