I'm not sure that's what he was saying. Because he says he'd prefer it to be destroyed than others have it.
I'm in the same boat. My data is not really all the useful to others. But I'd still prefer for it to be destroyed than others have it. Just because I keep bank accounts, passwords, etc on my machine. How much can you sell one poor college kids stuff for? Probably not much. But having that level of security, that I KNOW no one else can get into my stuff, is incredibly satisfying.
If I get my computer stolen, I don't worry about pictures of my kids getting to others, I don't worry about my bank accounts or passwords being compromised, I don't worry about my work documents getting put online (I do research, and don't want my discoveries prematurely exposed). I love not worrying about that stuff.
BUT, you are correct. Backup is also EXTREMELY important. I use duplicity/duplicati type implementations. Where I can do incremental backups that ARE encrypted. So even those get encrypted and stored in three separate locations. Now days, encrypting your backups or your system is so easy, I recommend everyone I know do it.
I love my system. And I wish more people encrypted and backed up their stuff regularly. The peace of mind is worth it. My data is always safe from failures and intruders, whether it be one my system at home, or my backups in other locations throughout the country.
I don't totally buy that. I do to a small degree. But its kind of like saying we should give people cars without making them learn how to drive.
We live in a day and age where everyone wants the quick fix, and the easy solution. But to use a tool properly, you need to understand some things about that tool. And when you try to make it overly simple, bad things (as we are seeing here) can happen.
I'm not by any means saying people need a perfect understanding of wifi or networks or security. But I don't think its unfair to require people to do a little bit of reading of a manual to set something up. Having "better things to do in life" is not an excuse for getting out of everything we find complicated. Its narcissistic to think that the ONLY things that are worthwile are the things ONLY oneself is interested in.
Sometimes we have better things to do, absolutely. But sometimes life requires we dig into projects we find boring to get things done correctly.
Simply setup for networks? Absolutely. But at the cost of security for the benefit of ease? Not what I would call ideal.
"In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -- Carl Sagan, Cosmos