Normal people don't care about a lot of stuff, but this doesn't stop research and development. The world would be a really boring place if we had to think solutions targeted at the "average Joe". I do care about this and if someone offered me a solution for these issues I'd buy it right away.
In regards to 2., you are right but today the same risk is multiplied on dozens of websites that I know basically nothing about. I don't know how they store and backup my stuff and I don't know how they deal it.
As per 4. OpenID and OAuth DO work (I use them a lot), what I tried to say is that they do not solve the underlying issue.
I think it may just be because the title "De-anonymizing social networks" didn't actually convey what the experiment found, and it's the result (as communicated in the title here) that got people interested enough to click.
Yup, pretty much the info I managed to find on my own. The thing is interesting (being in the EU and all), and I e-mailed him to get some more detail (waiting for a reply) -- I posted it to share and because I wanted to see if anyone in the field knew him more or less directly
Something about "people like that" always puts me off. You know the kind of big grin, be with you next week, dripping in cash attitude :)
He probably does have the money etc. - but you'd have ot worry if he has the commitment to be a decent angel.... (most angels would be up and running publicly by now)
In regards to 2., you are right but today the same risk is multiplied on dozens of websites that I know basically nothing about. I don't know how they store and backup my stuff and I don't know how they deal it.
As per 4. OpenID and OAuth DO work (I use them a lot), what I tried to say is that they do not solve the underlying issue.