Google and Facebook should pay users for their data

mrochester

mrochester

mrochester

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Google and Facebook ‘should pay users for their information’

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/b6ab72e4-21c5-11ea-bf0a-65463b7bd0d0

Ive been of the belief for many years that services from Facebook and Google are poor value because they generate far more wealth from your personal data than the equivalent service from a different provider costs in money, so you’re almost always better off maintaining your privacy and paying cash for a service than giving away your privacy and paying no money.

I strongly believe that your personal data (your actual personal details, and your behaviour, preferences etc) are highly valuable commodities that companies should be paying for, with users in full control of what they sell and how much they are prepared to sell it for. I’m glad to see more and more light being shone on this topic as people don’t seem to appreciate how valuable this data is and currently demand very little for it (all it seems to take is a free email service, etc). As Kara Swisher puts it, Google and Facebook users are the equivalent of a ‘cheap date’.

M.
 
Heavy case of Deja Vu here, pretty sure we've had this thread before?


So use a different (paid for) service?
 
If you don't like the service you get in return then change the service provider.


Do you also think that other commercial companies should charge less because they make a profit? Should all companies operate at break-even points?
 
Diddums said:
Heavy case of Deja Vu here, pretty sure we've had this thread before?


So use a different (paid for) service?
Click to expand...

I already do. But for the many many millions who don’t yet realise they are being taken for a ride by these big tech companies, these articles and potential regulatory action draw attention to how they operate and how unbalanced the transaction is in big tech’s favour.
 
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D.P. said:
If you don't like the service you get in return then change the service provider.


Do you also think that other commercial companies should charge less because they make a profit? Should all companies operate at break-even points?
Click to expand...

No but I think people should be paid fairly for their personal data. And in the absence of people actually knowing how much their data is worth (because they’ve never had to think of it that way), there should be regulation that determines that. Google and Facebook are quite happy to pay you nothing for your data because that increases their profit margin, and they won’t voluntarily pay you for it either.
 
I use gmail, google maps, youtube, google docs, google analytics, google chrome and probably a few more. Each of these is easily best in class at what it does and I don't pay a penny. I think I am doing OK. Facebook on the other hand can **** right off. Don't use it and haven't for about a decade nearly. If they think my info is that valuable, more fool them.
 
I agree that your personal data is a valuable commodity & wish more people would realise this, but the value of the services google provide to the general citizen whose data they are exploiting greatly exceed this IMO.
 
Tom_ed1987 said:
I agree that your personal data is a valuable commodity & wish more people would realise this, but the value of the services google provide to the general citizen whose data they are exploiting greatly exceed this IMO.
Click to expand...

I don’t think they do or else their profit margin wouldn’t be in the 20%s.
 
So you're suggesting companies should be limited in the profit they make?

They are providing a service in exchange for data, whereas other companies provide goods in exchange for a monetary payment. If you think something is too expensive, you don't say that the government needs to make it cheaper through regulation (notwithstanding essential utilities), you buy something else.

Same here from my perspective. You don't like the 'deal' you're getting, you simply use something else.
 
Sudden said:
So you're suggesting companies should be limited in the profit they make?

They are providing a service in exchange for data, whereas other companies provide goods in exchange for a monetary payment. If you think something is too expensive, you don't say that the government needs to make it cheaper through regulation (notwithstanding essential utilities), you buy something else.

Same here from my perspective. You don't like the 'deal' you're getting, you simply use something else.
Click to expand...

I understand the concept perfectly and that works where the currency is money (because we (mostly) all understand the value of money).

The problem arrises when the currency is personal data. How many people have even *thought* about how much their personal data is worth let alone begun to put a monetary value on it? Very few in comparison to how many people know the value of money. And it’s this ignorance that companies like Google and Facebook rely on.

Luckily the tide is slowly starting to turn and people are starting to begin to be aware of the fact that their personal data has value. And as people become more and more aware of that, questions will be asked as to how much they should be receiving in return for that data, and how people can take control so that they can choose what to sell.

This will likely all require government intervention as the companies raking in the profits from consumer ignorance aren’t going to voluntarily give users these controls.
 
How much do you reckon an individual should be paid for their data? Couple quid a year? Tenner? Multiply that by the number of users and you're looking at billions of outlay by these companies.
 
Devrij said:
How much do you reckon an individual should be paid for their data? Couple quid a year? Tenner? Multiply that by the number of users and you're looking at billions of outlay by these companies.
Click to expand...


Google’s yearly profit would be £26.8 billion based on the first figure I could find (Q1 2018 profits). We’d need to know how many people in the world use a Google product of any description and then work out how many of each of those products people use.

Personally I’d be asking for £10pm for my data.
 
mrochester said:
Google’s yearly profit would be £26.8 billion based on the first figure I could find (Q1 2018 profits). We’d need to know how many people in the world use a Google product of any description and then work out how many of each of those products people use.

Personally I’d be asking for £10pm for my data.
Click to expand...
Why is your data wort £10 a month do you think ? What data do you think they're holding about you to be worth this amount?
I understand where you're coming from but people make this mistake of thinking that they're special.
Companies won't accept hits to their profits so they'll pay you £10 a month and charge £15 a month to use their services. I don't know enough about the data but I expect it's often anonymised. What about if this data is used for scientific research?

As we move into the future the more data gathered on us all the better the potential there will be. Take Robots & Ai for example. Learn how we live our lives and future services can be geared around us. Can also help with disease prevention etc.

Would you pay £10 a month for free services if they did not use your data?
 
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