5 ms·

Datacoup – Unlock the Value of Your Personal Data

58 points by potench 12y ago

potench 12y ago
Can't find many reviews (1) of the service provided, and for some reason I'm wary of the responsibility of selling my own data. Has anyone tried this service? 1. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-personal-data-for-8-a-month/ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-person...
- nikku 12y ago
  I connected about 4 accounts and the rewards/week were $0.60. Have not tried giving them access to my debit/credit cards, that would definitely raise the reward but now sure by how much.
th0br0 12y ago
"Datacoup is lining up data purchasers to sustainably purchase data on the platform. However, to get the ball rolling, Datacoup is the primary purchaser of your data." Uhm...
- Tombone5 12y ago
  So they tell you to "reclaim" your data by letting them sell your personal data? Datapimp seems an more apt name for them, implications included.
- spacefight 12y ago
  So they have no idea on the true ask price...?
  - otoburb 12y ago
    That's what they're attempting to establish in a nascent 2-sided market where, by other proxy measures, the value of personal information is close to zero for large swaths of the uneducated digital population. I use the word 'uneducated' because presumably the working hypothesis is that once data-awareness is raised (i.e. "you can actually get paid to share your data!"), the corresponding market-price of various personal information tuples/assets will rise. EDIT: As a single other data point, AT&T's cable division called U-Verse is offering a fiber plan called GigaPower that effectively pays subscribers $29/mo for their participation in the AT&T GigaPower Internet Preferences (i.e. consensual data-mining) Program[1]. The "payment" is offered in the form of a price delta between the Premier (i.e. data-mined) tier for $70/mo, or the Standard tier for $99/mo[2]. So, at least one large corporation believes that household web browsing data is worth $29/month which is a good proxy for a price ceiling on how much personal data could be worth in the medium term. [1] http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB421828&cv=812#fbid=JUNeIt0J13u http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB421828&cv=812#... [2] http://www.eweek.com/small-business/att-u-verse-with-gigapower-launches-in-austin.html http://www.eweek.com/small-business/att-u-verse-with-gigapow...
SoftwareMaven 12y ago
The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.
SoftwareMaven 12y ago
The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.
SoftwareMaven 12y ago
The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.
SoftwareMaven 12y ago
The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.
lshemesh 12y ago
This sounds like a promising idea to me. Transparency into what data you're giving away and a monetary incentive is a win win IMO.
bsimpson 12y ago
I was really hoping this was like Google Takeout, but with adaptors for all different sorts of services. I thought the value prop would be to backup and analyze your own data, not to sell it to the same people who already creep everyone out when Facebook sells them your data.
- uncoder0 12y ago
  We're launching the exact thing you describe which also includes an API later this week. We don't plan to be a data broker just to let you backup all your data from any source and provide you with an API to access that data. We're Muxy.io
hoopism 12y ago
Reminds me of an art installation that worked like an ATM for your data. You plug in your cellphone and based on how much data it was able to scrape it would dispense money. Usually less than a buck. Was interesting to see how many people were willing to try it.
- lazyant 12y ago
  "More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has found." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3639679.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3639679.stm
  - proggR 12y ago
    Oh god help us. No wonder social engineering is still one of the more effective hacking methods :\
mralvar 12y ago
I'm getting "IllegalArgumentValueExceptionFaultMessage" when attempting to sign up.
the_equalizer 12y ago
wtf, a person's data spread over 6 accounts must be worth more to you than 1 dollar a week. i mean i understand buying low and selling high, but this is bs, this service is taking advantage of the public outcry over privacy by giving people incentives to sell themselves online, because online you are your data. go get a real job mate!
the_duck 12y ago
I briefly considered connecting my credit and debit cards to Datacoup, but their dialog box set of warning bells. It asked for my card number and my online banking password. These are the same as my online banking credentials. In principle, with that information, Datacoup would be able to log in to my bank's website and drain my accounts. It seems incredibly foolish to give this information to ANYONE over the internet. Why should I trust Datacoop with it? That's not a rhetorical question.
- aggronn 12y ago
  You could investigate the people in charge of the company and their backers. If you think they have more to gain by draining a small number of peoples bank accounts than they have to lose by committing a federal fraud crime then don't use them. Obviously any evaluation would also depend on the credibility of the information presented on the website about those individuals. I don't make any purchases with my debit card, so I would only link my credit card, which has pretty solid fraud protection. I'd probably be more way about cash accounts.
  - alcari 12y ago
    The problem isn't necessarily with the intentions of the people running the site. It could be an attacker altering the site to steal the information.
- gphilip 12y ago
  "It asked for my ... online banking password." My bank tries to drill it into me that I should NEVER, EVER give my password to any third party, including employees of the bank. This behaviour from Datacoup certainly seems like a big red flag to me. They do say this, though: "Datacoup neither sees nor stores any bank or credit card user login information such as username or password. The communication to the bank is hashed and the access point is tokenized, which means we cannot decipher a password even if we wanted to. Datacoup never sees nor stores account or routing numbers." (http://datacoup.com/docs#security http://datacoup.com/docs#security) Did they redirect you first to a secure web page from the bank, and is it this page which asked for the credentials? If what they say above is true, then (I think) this is the only way in which this should happen.
akbar501 12y ago
Conceptually I love the idea. I have thought about this business idea for a long time, but never got over the issues with it to pursue it. The main insight I got when doing customer interviews was that many people don't like the idea of others accessing their data when its raised to the foreground, but are perfectly ok with it when it's "hidden". The other issue is that the amount of cash required to make this interesting for the avg. person is relatively high. On the business side, when interviewing VPs Marketing/Sales, the #1 question asked was "What additional value does this bring beyond what we already have?". This is a valuable question to answer b/c massive amounts of data are already collected on each one of us. To be valuable, a business like Datacoup needs to convert this data into insight that can be used to help companies to sell more. With all of that said, I hope Datacoup is successful. It's a great idea and one that I personally like.
- otoburb 12y ago
  > On the business side, when interviewing VPs Marketing/Sales, the #1 question asked was "What additional value does this bring beyond what we already have?". It's true that massive amounts of data are being collected, but the better value proposition for customers to sign up is: "Billions of dollars are spent by companies on advertising; you deserve a slice of that." >The other issue is that the amount of cash required to make this interesting for the avg. person is relatively high. I also ran into the exact same dichotomy when sussing out this idea, namely that people don't mind monetization of their data exhaust/patterns "for free" or in nominal exchange for a foreground service, but being asked to give this in direct exchange for monetary compensation makes them demand a very high premium for the exact same data. EDIT: Personal.com is establishing a track record of securely consolidating and storing sensitive information. I can't help but think that controlled sharing of personal information (extending beyond core password/address/credit card/banking details) will be their next big push.
  - johnmaguire2013 12y ago
    I think he was saying, what value does this add for marketers (i.e. those buying the data)? They already have many ways to get users' data, and at (likely) a lower cost.
otoburb 12y ago
This older article indicates that DataCoup was originally paying beta subscribers $8/month for their data[1]. Always risky trying to seed two-sided markets, but the rewards could be substantial if they can establish their credibility over the long run as personal data-brokers. [1] http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-personal-data-for-8-a-month/ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-person...

58 points by potench 12y ago

Can't find many reviews (1) of the service provided, and for some reason I'm wary of the responsibility of selling my own data. Has anyone tried this service? 1. http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-personal-data-for-8-a-month/ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-person...

nikku 12y ago
I connected about 4 accounts and the rewards/week were $0.60. Have not tried giving them access to my debit/credit cards, that would definitely raise the reward but now sure by how much.

th0br0 12y ago

"Datacoup is lining up data purchasers to sustainably purchase data on the platform. However, to get the ball rolling, Datacoup is the primary purchaser of your data." Uhm...

Tombone5 12y ago
So they tell you to "reclaim" your data by letting them sell your personal data? Datapimp seems an more apt name for them, implications included.
spacefight 12y ago
So they have no idea on the true ask price...?
- otoburb 12y ago
  That's what they're attempting to establish in a nascent 2-sided market where, by other proxy measures, the value of personal information is close to zero for large swaths of the uneducated digital population. I use the word 'uneducated' because presumably the working hypothesis is that once data-awareness is raised (i.e. "you can actually get paid to share your data!"), the corresponding market-price of various personal information tuples/assets will rise. EDIT: As a single other data point, AT&T's cable division called U-Verse is offering a fiber plan called GigaPower that effectively pays subscribers $29/mo for their participation in the AT&T GigaPower Internet Preferences (i.e. consensual data-mining) Program[1]. The "payment" is offered in the form of a price delta between the Premier (i.e. data-mined) tier for $70/mo, or the Standard tier for $99/mo[2]. So, at least one large corporation believes that household web browsing data is worth $29/month which is a good proxy for a price ceiling on how much personal data could be worth in the medium term. [1] http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB421828&cv=812#fbid=JUNeIt0J13u http://www.att.com/esupport/article.jsp?sid=KB421828&cv=812#... [2] http://www.eweek.com/small-business/att-u-verse-with-gigapower-launches-in-austin.html http://www.eweek.com/small-business/att-u-verse-with-gigapow...

SoftwareMaven 12y ago

The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.

SoftwareMaven 12y ago

The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.

SoftwareMaven 12y ago

The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.

SoftwareMaven 12y ago

The most intriguing possibility here, IMO, is the ability to show other people how much those free services really learn about them, and how much they sell.

lshemesh 12y ago

This sounds like a promising idea to me. Transparency into what data you're giving away and a monetary incentive is a win win IMO.

bsimpson 12y ago

I was really hoping this was like Google Takeout, but with adaptors for all different sorts of services. I thought the value prop would be to backup and analyze your own data, not to sell it to the same people who already creep everyone out when Facebook sells them your data.

uncoder0 12y ago
We're launching the exact thing you describe which also includes an API later this week. We don't plan to be a data broker just to let you backup all your data from any source and provide you with an API to access that data. We're Muxy.io

hoopism 12y ago

Reminds me of an art installation that worked like an ATM for your data. You plug in your cellphone and based on how much data it was able to scrape it would dispense money. Usually less than a buck. Was interesting to see how many people were willing to try it.

lazyant 12y ago
"More than 70% of people would reveal their computer password in exchange for a bar of chocolate, a survey has found." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3639679.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3639679.stm
- proggR 12y ago
  Oh god help us. No wonder social engineering is still one of the more effective hacking methods :\

mralvar 12y ago

I'm getting "IllegalArgumentValueExceptionFaultMessage" when attempting to sign up.

the_equalizer 12y ago

wtf, a person's data spread over 6 accounts must be worth more to you than 1 dollar a week. i mean i understand buying low and selling high, but this is bs, this service is taking advantage of the public outcry over privacy by giving people incentives to sell themselves online, because online you are your data. go get a real job mate!

the_duck 12y ago

I briefly considered connecting my credit and debit cards to Datacoup, but their dialog box set of warning bells. It asked for my card number and my online banking password. These are the same as my online banking credentials. In principle, with that information, Datacoup would be able to log in to my bank's website and drain my accounts. It seems incredibly foolish to give this information to ANYONE over the internet. Why should I trust Datacoop with it? That's not a rhetorical question.

aggronn 12y ago
You could investigate the people in charge of the company and their backers. If you think they have more to gain by draining a small number of peoples bank accounts than they have to lose by committing a federal fraud crime then don't use them. Obviously any evaluation would also depend on the credibility of the information presented on the website about those individuals. I don't make any purchases with my debit card, so I would only link my credit card, which has pretty solid fraud protection. I'd probably be more way about cash accounts.
- alcari 12y ago
  The problem isn't necessarily with the intentions of the people running the site. It could be an attacker altering the site to steal the information.
gphilip 12y ago
"It asked for my ... online banking password." My bank tries to drill it into me that I should NEVER, EVER give my password to any third party, including employees of the bank. This behaviour from Datacoup certainly seems like a big red flag to me. They do say this, though: "Datacoup neither sees nor stores any bank or credit card user login information such as username or password. The communication to the bank is hashed and the access point is tokenized, which means we cannot decipher a password even if we wanted to. Datacoup never sees nor stores account or routing numbers." (http://datacoup.com/docs#security http://datacoup.com/docs#security) Did they redirect you first to a secure web page from the bank, and is it this page which asked for the credentials? If what they say above is true, then (I think) this is the only way in which this should happen.

akbar501 12y ago

Conceptually I love the idea. I have thought about this business idea for a long time, but never got over the issues with it to pursue it. The main insight I got when doing customer interviews was that many people don't like the idea of others accessing their data when its raised to the foreground, but are perfectly ok with it when it's "hidden". The other issue is that the amount of cash required to make this interesting for the avg. person is relatively high. On the business side, when interviewing VPs Marketing/Sales, the #1 question asked was "What additional value does this bring beyond what we already have?". This is a valuable question to answer b/c massive amounts of data are already collected on each one of us. To be valuable, a business like Datacoup needs to convert this data into insight that can be used to help companies to sell more. With all of that said, I hope Datacoup is successful. It's a great idea and one that I personally like.

otoburb 12y ago
> On the business side, when interviewing VPs Marketing/Sales, the #1 question asked was "What additional value does this bring beyond what we already have?". It's true that massive amounts of data are being collected, but the better value proposition for customers to sign up is: "Billions of dollars are spent by companies on advertising; you deserve a slice of that." >The other issue is that the amount of cash required to make this interesting for the avg. person is relatively high. I also ran into the exact same dichotomy when sussing out this idea, namely that people don't mind monetization of their data exhaust/patterns "for free" or in nominal exchange for a foreground service, but being asked to give this in direct exchange for monetary compensation makes them demand a very high premium for the exact same data. EDIT: Personal.com is establishing a track record of securely consolidating and storing sensitive information. I can't help but think that controlled sharing of personal information (extending beyond core password/address/credit card/banking details) will be their next big push.
- johnmaguire2013 12y ago
  I think he was saying, what value does this add for marketers (i.e. those buying the data)? They already have many ways to get users' data, and at (likely) a lower cost.

otoburb 12y ago

This older article indicates that DataCoup was originally paying beta subscribers $8/month for their data[1]. Always risky trying to seed two-sided markets, but the rewards could be substantial if they can establish their credibility over the long run as personal data-brokers. [1] http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-personal-data-for-8-a-month/ http://www.technologyreview.com/news/524621/sell-your-person...