The Coiner of the Phrase: "80/20 Rule" Died

Joseph Juran, 103, Pioneer in Quality Control, Dies

It's funny how often I've said, or heard, the phrase "80/20" and only now realize that the Pareto Principle was coined popularized by Joseph M. Juran. Pareto, I've just learned, was a Classical Liberal Economist of the 19th C who made the observation that twenty percent of the population owned eighty percent of the property and this truism held across time and culture.

80% of a company's profits come from 20% of their customers

80% of their complaints come from 20% of their customers

80% of crimes come from 20% of the criminals

and

80% of users use only 20% of the features

20% of software bugs create 80% of the errors

The 80/20 rule may or may not be another "Golden Ratio" myth but it has certainly entered the lexicon.

The Privacy Paradox

Forbes has an interesting article regarding privacy.

"Consumers express a lot of concern about their privacy online in surveys. At the same time, very few engage in privacy-protecting activities," says Leslie Harris, executive director of the privacy advocacy group Center for Democracy and Technology. "There's a real inconsistency."

...

So, do users value the convenience of having a search bar beside their e-mail more than protecting their sensitive information? "There's a growing market pressure to do right by privacy," insists Harris. "But do I think the market alone will fix this? No. At the end of the day, we still need legal protection." Part of the solution, she says, may be a national privacy law.
The Privacy Paradox

I agree - part of the solution may be privacy laws. Facebook ought to have no more say over your data than does the journal in which you jot down notes.