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Profits based on the sale of data has been discussed a few times on HN. However, the price for it is so low on a per user basis. That said, there should be a

Profits based on the sale of data has been discussed a few times on HN. However, the price for it is so low on a per user basis. That said, there should be a law on the books that disallow the sale of data between companies. I'd wager this is the bulk of where Facebook makes it's money. That's where we should be targeting with legislation. The use of data should be fine. As the end-user or end-company never actually get their hands on the data. They just use a UI with categories and filters and put up ads based on the options available.

gaogao 8y ago
Facebook makes its money from selling ads. You can see this in its revenue report, https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2018/Facebook-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2017-Results/default.aspx https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/... Of course, these ads are highly targeted using all sorts of personal data, but they aren't actually selling the data, as that's also just less profitable.
- no1youknowz 8y ago
  I know that. But is there a distinction in advertising between: 1) Allowing users to use the data for making ads. 2) Selling the data to companies such as Apple for other means. There isn't any visibility. This is what I'm trying to get at.
  - gaogao 8y ago
    From another report, >> Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 91% of advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2018, up from approximately 85% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2017. In particular, Facebook makes its money from mobile ads
vharuck 8y ago
> However, the price for it is so low on a per user basis. A user won't see much benefit in data profit sharing, but the companies will definitely see the costs. The effort to set up payout channels for every user would drive them to look at other revenue sources. Plus, if all user data comes with a 50% cut, and their biggest income is based on user data, that's significant to the company.

gaogao 8y ago

Facebook makes its money from selling ads. You can see this in its revenue report, https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/2018/Facebook-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2017-Results/default.aspx https://investor.fb.com/investor-news/press-release-details/... Of course, these ads are highly targeted using all sorts of personal data, but they aren't actually selling the data, as that's also just less profitable.

no1youknowz 8y ago
I know that. But is there a distinction in advertising between: 1) Allowing users to use the data for making ads. 2) Selling the data to companies such as Apple for other means. There isn't any visibility. This is what I'm trying to get at.
- gaogao 8y ago
  From another report, >> Mobile advertising revenue – Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 91% of advertising revenue for the first quarter of 2018, up from approximately 85% of advertising revenue in the first quarter of 2017. In particular, Facebook makes its money from mobile ads

vharuck 8y ago

> However, the price for it is so low on a per user basis. A user won't see much benefit in data profit sharing, but the companies will definitely see the costs. The effort to set up payout channels for every user would drive them to look at other revenue sources. Plus, if all user data comes with a 50% cut, and their biggest income is based on user data, that's significant to the company.