You have a problem discovering people in real life if you have niche interests -- I was talking to a gay grad student and he explained how isolating it is outside major cities. Relying on organic social dynamics to do their job will get you nowhere. The chief concern for projects like this is can they gain enough traction to be useful. Also it's unhealthy to have expectations of absolute privacy, in private communication you rely that the contents are not leaked from one party -- with data driven platforms you give a little piece of information in return for a service. Hell, half the businesses on here can only work because it's possible to market to niche groups and for niche interests. This is peacetime if you ignore what is effectively a low intensity conflict for the West happening in the Middle East. If the country you are living in was mobilized for war you would have zero expectations for anything, individual concerns of autonomy are irrelevant at that point and with very good reason -- no gains made for individual privacy would remain in that situation anyways. The 'secret police' doesn't care since they are concerned with the willing and unwilling agents of other countries 'secret police' -- there are plenty of targets to fry before they ever bother with you, aiding and abetting their primary concerns is a quick way to move yourself up the list.