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"Companies selling your data is nothing new—Facebook and Google have been doing it for decades." Is there any evidence for this? I'm pretty sure that in the ca
by danellis 10y ago
"Companies selling your data is nothing new—Facebook and Google have been doing it for decades."
Is there any evidence for this? I'm pretty sure that in the case of Google, at least, it's a flat-out lie. In fact, they state in massive letters: "We do not sell your personal information to anyone." (https://privacy.google.com/how-ads-work.html https://privacy.google.com/how-ads-work.html) Who would they even sell it to? They're at an advantage having that data themselves.
- ballenf 10y agoYou're right: selling the data would be selling the golden goose. Instead the data is milked for all it's worth by pimping it out to advertisers.
- danellis 10y agoI'm not sure what "pimping out" means if not "selling". Google runs the ad network, so they don't have to sell or "pimp out" personal data to advertisers. They use it themselves to make sure the ads are being seen by the people the advertisers want them to be seen by.
- ballenf 10y agoGoogle doesn't sell an indexed list of users and their interests: you can't buy the data and then use it how you want. But, yes, pimping it out was just hyperbole for renting it for particular, well-defined purposes. But even that doesn't convey the fact that advertisers never have full access to the underlying data itself. They can specify the market demographics desired and google or any other ad network delivers the matching eyeballs.
- r00fus 10y agoIn this case, Google and FB should host an all-out attack against the telecoms. Expect more of FB's "internet.org" and Google's wifi balloons. Very sad that Google Fiber isn't viable anymore.