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It's standard profit maximization. If you can get a customer to pay $X, and then also sell their data on the side for $Y, then why wouldn't you do it? The thin
by eslaught 8y ago
It's standard profit maximization. If you can get a customer to pay $X, and then also sell their data on the side for $Y, then why wouldn't you do it?
The thing people don't seem to realize is that it's not just enough to pay money for what you use. You have to pay more than $X + $Y, i.e. you have to explicitly price yourself out of the price bracket of customers who are willing to put up with being the product.
This means that services where users are a product are going to continue to be the norm as long as a significant fraction of consumers are willing to put up with it.
- lotsofpulp 8y agoIn the case of Verizon and ATT, and other ISPs, it doesn't matter how many are willing to put up with it since there are no other options.
- Avshalom 8y agoYou can only explicitly price yourself out if that's an option. If every player in the market sells your data regardless of their price points the only option is to not buy anything at all.
- rhizome 8y agoIt's standard profit maximization. If you can get a customer to pay $X, and then also sell their data on the side for $Y, then why wouldn't you do it? Generally, people are prohibited from reselling the things the common items of our existence: electricity, internet service, food, and so on. Businesses have no such restrictions, even though like food, personally-attributable information can be put to harm.