I'm willing to accept that that is your viewpoint, and the viewpoints of others. We'll also have to disagree with each other due to different viewpoints, obviously.

I think that people being complacent or uncaring about what is going on without them is usually (but not always, its also possible I can be wrong too :) ) due to either being ignorant, misinformed, or not understanding the implications of an act.

If you do a highly dangerous activity in a town that hasn't killed anyone yet but didn't warn or tell the town that if something goes wrong - the entire town would be blown to smithereens. Of course, nobody would care. They either don't know about the dangers (ignorance) - and the people doing the dangerous activity are actively giving misinformation about the actual dangers (misinformed), so anyone telling others about the dangers is just a "paranoid tinfoil hat" (not understanding the implications of the act).

Even if the town hasn't blown up in 5 years - should they keep testing their luck until they blow up? Ignoring that it might be a calculated risk, people will only ever care when it all comes tumbling down and blows up in their faces. History has shown this time and time again. That's an unfortunate aspect about society-at-large, but a lot of educated decisions and fail-safes can be put in place ahead of time. It merely relies on the public being educated. An ignorant public is an easily manipulated public.

As is oft-mentioned/quoted. Few people care about their online privacy... until you tell them their nudes can be seen by people other than their intended recipient. Then they suddenly care a lot [0]. Of course, that's a little bit of a stretch in most cases. But as they educate themselves more and more about how important their privacy is (and how much they actually value it, by using examples) the more agreeable they become. It's not an overnight process - it's one that has to be won through many battles. Few wars have ever ended in a single battle.

There's been larger and larger amounts of the public looking for and asking for more secure forms of communication. Or how to keep their communications private. That tells me that as more people are becoming educated, more people are giving a damn. That's a sign to keep trying - not to give up because people don't care.

People didn't care that black people were slaves or that women couldn't vote. There were even women who argued against women's suffrage. It took many years - but eventually the general public was informed enough to change their minds about the importance of these things. Should they have given up when people told them they were wrong or weren't making any public influence? I personally think it's a good thing they argued for years on end instead of stopping 5 years in because of little to no progress. If it takes 10 more years to convince people their privacy matters, so be it.

I'm sorry for the length of my replies. I like to tread carefully with my viewpoints and make sure I mention exceptions as well as my willingness to entertain other viewpoints or at least show I understanding where they are arguing from, even if it comes down to "I disagree with your reasoning".

TL;DR

I don't think that the public-at-large not caring for their privacy now means they don't care for their privacy. It means they're ignorant or don't understand the importance of their privacy. Education has shown that the public is changing and becoming more aware of the importance of their privacy. Adoption is slow, but even if it takes 10 more years to convince people privacy matters - that isn't a reason to give up now.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Udb8SYeS0