5 ms·

> Can anyone give me an idea of how valuable a person's personal information really is? Rough lower bound: Alphabet's market cap is around 900 Billion, FB's ma

> Can anyone give me an idea of how valuable a person's personal information really is? Rough lower bound: Alphabet's market cap is around 900 Billion, FB's market cap is around 500 Billion. Both of their businesses are driven by selling ads based on people's personal information. There are around 7 Billion people on the planet. That's about $200/person for everyone on the planet.

Fricken 8y ago
It's more than that. I went out for dinner earlier, and if they had just given me random food, there's a good chance I wouldn't have eaten there again, but I gave them my personal data so they were able to prepare a meal targeted specifically to my preferences. I actually wasn't very comfortable with the information I had given them. I went to a shoe store right after, and the salesman was like "Is there anything I can help you find?" I told him "Yes, but I'm not going to say, I've had it with giving up my personal data so you surveillance capitalists can make money off of me." The shoe salesman directed me to the athletic shoes, which he knew were popular based on past user data he had aggregated, but that wasn't even what I was there for, I wanted dress shoes. What an idiot that guy was. All these capitalists requiring us to give up our data just so they know what to sell us. The world has gone haywire, I say.
- therein 8y ago
  It seems a little backwards, doesn't it? I am going to try so hard to sell you something that you didn't know you wanted that I am going to look over the obvious... simply to ask what I wanted.
- ablation 8y ago
  Nice try, Mark Zuckerberg.
- ionised 8y ago
  You're really clutching at straws with this one.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
maxxxxx 8y ago
Google revenue from advertising is a little more than 100 billion per year as far as I know. I am not sure by how many people this should be divided to get a value person.
phs318u 8y ago
Let's go with those numbers (which are probably high by an order of magnitude, but let's go with $200/person anyway). That's the value of my info to them. What about putting a fair value on the services we ostensibly get in return. Worth $200? $200/year? More, less? And how about putting a value on the financial impact should my data get into the "wrong hands" and I experience something like identity theft? Without having some idea of the other values we're not really in a position (as individuals) to decide whether this is a fair trade.

Fricken 8y ago

It's more than that. I went out for dinner earlier, and if they had just given me random food, there's a good chance I wouldn't have eaten there again, but I gave them my personal data so they were able to prepare a meal targeted specifically to my preferences. I actually wasn't very comfortable with the information I had given them. I went to a shoe store right after, and the salesman was like "Is there anything I can help you find?" I told him "Yes, but I'm not going to say, I've had it with giving up my personal data so you surveillance capitalists can make money off of me." The shoe salesman directed me to the athletic shoes, which he knew were popular based on past user data he had aggregated, but that wasn't even what I was there for, I wanted dress shoes. What an idiot that guy was. All these capitalists requiring us to give up our data just so they know what to sell us. The world has gone haywire, I say.

therein 8y ago
It seems a little backwards, doesn't it? I am going to try so hard to sell you something that you didn't know you wanted that I am going to look over the obvious... simply to ask what I wanted.
ablation 8y ago
Nice try, Mark Zuckerberg.
ionised 8y ago
You're really clutching at straws with this one.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

maxxxxx 8y ago

Google revenue from advertising is a little more than 100 billion per year as far as I know. I am not sure by how many people this should be divided to get a value person.

phs318u 8y ago

Let's go with those numbers (which are probably high by an order of magnitude, but let's go with $200/person anyway). That's the value of my info to them. What about putting a fair value on the services we ostensibly get in return. Worth $200? $200/year? More, less? And how about putting a value on the financial impact should my data get into the "wrong hands" and I experience something like identity theft? Without having some idea of the other values we're not really in a position (as individuals) to decide whether this is a fair trade.