4 ms·
Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg. If a fully featured app or service is free, then you are the product. Collecting and selling user information is perv
by jdlyga 9y ago
Facebook is just the tip of the iceberg. If a fully featured app or service is free, then you are the product. Collecting and selling user information is pervasive.
- naravara 9y ago>If a fully featured app or service is free, then you are the product. Depends on the business model. Wikipedia, for example, is a non-profit. You can also theoretically have a public benefit corporation that is structured to protect data privacy, but I don't know of any.
- leadingthenet 9y agoMozilla?
- naravara 9y agoI think Mozilla has some weird structure where it's a non-profit foundation that happens fully own a for-profit corporation. I'm not an expert on the topic, though, so maybe that counts? Probably depends on the state where it's incorporated. The only big PBCs I've ever heard of were hospitals and private colleges. But you are right that the way Mozilla is set up, it is focused more on pushing the technology and mission of the foundation forward rather than on delivering share price increases or dividends to shareholders.
- choward 9y agoEven if you're paying for a product, you're probably still a product.