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> With Google+, it became clear that we were all little more than webs of flesh spun over packages of saleable data. What data is allegedly being sold, and who

by raldi 12y ago

> With Google+, it became clear that we were all little more than webs of flesh spun over packages of saleable data. What data is allegedly being sold, and who is Google selling it to?

adam74 12y ago
The data is basically what products you like or might like. They sell this to anyone who wants to advertise using Adsense.
- raldi 12y ago
  So how would you go about purchasing a list of products I like or might like?
  - mhurron 12y ago
    You don't, that would be stupid of Google to sell that as it would be a one time sale. Google holds that data and has advertisers come to them, and pay them to make sure their products are seen by the people interested in related products. And the same thing next week. And the same thing the week after. The more information Google has on you to more accurately correlate your interests, the more valuable the data is and the more Google can charge for the access they provide. Everything Google does to get you to give up more information is Google improving the product they have to sell.
    - raldi 12y ago
      In other words, user data is not for sale.
      - adam74 12y ago
        It is for sale. Just not in the way you thought it was.
        raldi 12y ago
        No, see, that's not how words work.
        vidarh 12y ago
        That argument would have worked better if you'd not implied she'd written something she hasn't written above. If she'd made the direct claim that Google sells this data, you'd have had a point. She didn't. That she made claims about "saleable data" does not imply they've actually offered it up for sale. See, that's not how words work.
vidarh 12y ago
I don't see anywhere where the article alleges that the data is for sale, but that it is saleable. One way of capitalizing on that, without selling the data, is to sell access to advertise on the basis of that data. The point is not to claim that Google is selling our data, but just another way of stating that we're the product, not the customer.
- raldi 12y ago
  The point is to try to lump Google together with companies that literally do sell customer data, e.g., credit card providers, supermarkets, stores at the mall, magazine publishers... They literally sell your non-anonymized, non-aggregated data, period. It's an unfair lumping because what Google does is a far cry from that.
  - vidarh 12y ago
    I didn't read it that way at all. I can see how it can be read that way, but it can likewise simply be read as making it clear that Google cares about advertisers rather than users. Whether or not a subjective interpretation is that she is "trying to lump" Google together with these companies, she did not come straight out and make such an allegation in the article. When you then imply in your comment that she did, it's a bit rich to accuse her of "unfair lumping" afterwards.

by raldi 12y ago

> With Google+, it became clear that we were all little more than webs of flesh spun over packages of saleable data. What data is allegedly being sold, and who is Google selling it to?

adam74 12y ago

The data is basically what products you like or might like. They sell this to anyone who wants to advertise using Adsense.

raldi 12y ago
So how would you go about purchasing a list of products I like or might like?
- mhurron 12y ago
  You don't, that would be stupid of Google to sell that as it would be a one time sale. Google holds that data and has advertisers come to them, and pay them to make sure their products are seen by the people interested in related products. And the same thing next week. And the same thing the week after. The more information Google has on you to more accurately correlate your interests, the more valuable the data is and the more Google can charge for the access they provide. Everything Google does to get you to give up more information is Google improving the product they have to sell.
  - raldi 12y ago
    In other words, user data is not for sale.
    - adam74 12y ago
      It is for sale. Just not in the way you thought it was.
      - raldi 12y ago
        No, see, that's not how words work.
        vidarh 12y ago
        That argument would have worked better if you'd not implied she'd written something she hasn't written above. If she'd made the direct claim that Google sells this data, you'd have had a point. She didn't. That she made claims about "saleable data" does not imply they've actually offered it up for sale. See, that's not how words work.

vidarh 12y ago

I don't see anywhere where the article alleges that the data is for sale, but that it is saleable. One way of capitalizing on that, without selling the data, is to sell access to advertise on the basis of that data. The point is not to claim that Google is selling our data, but just another way of stating that we're the product, not the customer.

raldi 12y ago
The point is to try to lump Google together with companies that literally do sell customer data, e.g., credit card providers, supermarkets, stores at the mall, magazine publishers... They literally sell your non-anonymized, non-aggregated data, period. It's an unfair lumping because what Google does is a far cry from that.
- vidarh 12y ago
  I didn't read it that way at all. I can see how it can be read that way, but it can likewise simply be read as making it clear that Google cares about advertisers rather than users. Whether or not a subjective interpretation is that she is "trying to lump" Google together with these companies, she did not come straight out and make such an allegation in the article. When you then imply in your comment that she did, it's a bit rich to accuse her of "unfair lumping" afterwards.