Privacy concerns are a very popular and valid talking point on Lemmy, so I would like to gather your thoughts and opinions on this. (Apologies if it’s already been discussed!)
Would you support this? Would it work or even be viable? (If it could somehow overcome the rabid resistance from these big companies). What are your thoughts?
Personally, I’m getting more and more agitated at the state of this late stage global capitalism, where companies have the gall to ask you to pay or subscribe to their products, while they already make money from you for selling your data. It’s been an issue for a long time now, but seems to really be ramping up.
Only I should be able to rent out my personal data to selected companies and they should pay rent monthly to retain that information. I should have termination rights with a 60 day notice.
Yeah let’s offer them a subscription model.
You do rent out your personal data. That’s how you pay for free services.
There is no rental agreement there. They straight up take your data. You should have a right who can take and use your data.
No, you agree to them harvesting your data when you use the service. TANSTAAFL
I looked it up, if a consumer opts out of the sale of personal information, the business must refrain from selling the personal information collected by the business and respect the decision to opt out for at least 12 months before requesting that the consumer opt-in to the sale of their personal information. This is required by current U.S. law.
Companies who obtain and sell your user information should be put out of business and have their executives and board go to prison for thousands or millions of counts of stalking.
But you generally literally say “yes, I permit you to use and sell my information”
In instances where that isn’t the case, I agree with you, it’s stalking.
It’s far more nuanced than that. What if the company tells you they are collecting and selling your data and even give you a way to opt out, but it’s on page 28 of the Terms and Conditions.
It should be law that companies must have a clear and transparent way to communicate data collection and what they do with said data
Do people here responding with “It’s a free service!” not realize paid services sell your data just as much? The ISP you’re using to read this is selling your data.
And the T&C terms are not anywhere near informed consent. They’re just permission to do anything they want with your data. Quit acting like consumer protection laws aren’t needed as long as someone clicked “I agree” to use a service required for modern life. We all know you can click “Cancel” and go live in the forest. We’d rather a third option besides exploitation and going feral.
Also, quit licking boot. You’re killing the jobs of PR people when you shill for corporations for free.
just take a look at T&Cs and privacy disclaimers for auto manufacturers. Mozilla did an analysis and found all of them just stink. Imagine paying $30K for a brand new car, only to get your information sold by the dealership to shady warranty companies. The auto manufacturer selling out your data in perpetuity and listening to everything. Oh and one auto manufacturer is making claims on your sexual activity LOL
Welcome to the unregulated market of big data in the USA
I’m pretty sure ISPs don’t do this in the EU. Or, if they do, then they are in for a big hurt.
People also say “well did you pay them anything??” to excuse when an ad/data supported business abuses a member. Take Facebook, for instance. I don’t care if we’re “the product” or customers… one way or the other, they make money from people using the site.
It all comes down to one thing:
You agreed to the terms and agreements. You don’t have to.
But in general… imo… it should be absolutely forbidden to sell data and governments should finally do something and stop sleeping.
I’m an ordinary person with an average level of intelligence, and T&Cs are incomprehensible to me thanks to pretentious language often written in all caps. And it’s not me being unusually stupid
This. Its on a lot of languages like this. The less you understand, the better.
This could help
Totally get this, and the argument that free services can only remain so from selling your data to keep running. But it just seems like such a predatory thing, there was no negotiation in this. It was just inflicted on Internet users within ridiculously lengthy terms and conditions.
I understand the logic of it, but I completely disagree with how we got to this stage. It feels very perverse. And I am in total agreement that something definitely needs to be done- soon.
Absolutely.
Ofc they use the data to make money. But there are not so many rules set to it. It feels like governments slept in this area for the past 20 years and it’s ridiculous.
We’re so deep in its impossible to really resign from it anymore.
Not just in the initial sale, but for every time my data is used.
I don’t care about royalties. They should pay a gigantic tax for selling it tho
And I should get to set the price since it’s my data in the first place.
yeah honestly the fraction of a cent I’d get negotiated wouldn’t make a dent in my life. I’d much rather we as a collective hold companies accountable for selling off our data. Politicians too; they’re all trying squeeze us for everything they can, and we consent by being apathetic.
They shouldn’t be able to obtain data beyond what’s strictly necessary for the service, never mind sell it.
People don’t understand the value of the data, and there’s no good way to put a price on it, honestly. As in, no, just because Reddit or whoever can make 5£$€ a year off me, doesn’t mean I’d be ok to sell it for 2£$€.
If you use a company’s service without agreeing to pay them with money, you likely agreed to share your information with no strings attached. Problem there being once that’s done, your information is liable to be resold ad infinitum with no legal protection for you. What should happen is legislation that federally declares that agreement null and void, and put in its place nationwide law that dictates what companies and citizens can and can’t do with intellectual property as it pertains to someone’s personal information.
I agree. I’ve always thought it was weird that companies can sell our personal data including health data without our consent most of the times. And we can’t get any money in return for the value our data generates. If they said, yeah you make $1 couple of hours of you using your phone, I’d probably be a little more keen, but I also value privacy lol
Edit: also just the amount of data collected and how much they can figure out about anyone is fucking terrifying. I like my privacy not because I have something to hide, but because no one would want a stalker who knows everything about you
without our consent
Oh, you didn’t read our 30 page 8 font legalese terms of service saying we can do what we want with the data we need to collect to provide you with this thing.
I’d put /s but it is not sarcasm. The Mozilla foundation privacy not included and Terms Of Service;Didn’t Read have good info as who collects what.
Most of the time they give you a “free” product in return like Gmail or 15GB of “free” space.
Yes
I wonder what the side effects of this would be… There would suddenly be incentive for people to shape their lives in ways that would make them more attractive to advertisers, at least on paper.
I wonder if we would see improvementw to society at a macro level if people start making changes to be the types that are paid more for their data.
It depends, at the very least there should be more transparency about what is being shared with who. But what do you do in situations where they’re providing some sort of “free” service, like Gmail or something? I feel like there’s some sort if trade-off happening there, but we should be fully informed about what is that’s being given about us.
Y’know, if I could use gmail and pay a few bucks to do it (and not be tracked everywhere without a way to opt out) I would do it. Likewise for any social media that makes its money by trading my privacy for it, I would pay them for the service of being a conduit by which I can keep track of friends and family if it meant I wouldn’t be followed everywhere by ads. As for how ad revenue funds so much of the useful content online, it’s depressing as hell to see that political propaganda is free while informative media is sequestered behind paywalls. I’m old enough to remember when the news was a prestige business and didn’t have to turn a profit
The fact that platforms like Meta give advertisers (or propagandists) the ability to target their messaging to people that fit a detailed profile, tho, ensures that our politics can now be cheaply and profitably flooded with shit, and that in real ways is a threat to democracy, I think.
It would be to be a completely mutual agreement where all parties understand all the details and implications. It will probably never happen so it makes way more sense to make data harvesting and selling of user data illegal.
Agree
