$25/£15?
Is that all? Hmm, my response is rearrange the words "Off" and "Fuck" into a well known phrase!
Google has revealed exactly how little cash it thinks a user who is willing to "sell" their data to the search giant is actually worth. The answer? $25 for one year of letting the Chocolate Factory happily slurp your data. And that figure isn't even in the form of cold, hard cash. Nope. Amazon gift vouchers are on offer to …
They monitor your web usage through a chrome plugin. As I don't usually use Chrome, I've signed up for this - I get $5 for installing the plugin and an extra $5 every three months if I can be bothered to fire up Chrome every couple of days and do some random web browsing. I'll probably just use it for anything non-sensitive that I do. I'd be using the web anyway, and getting paid to surf (albeit peanuts) is better than not.
is to actually create your own FB page - to avoid namejacking and bad stuff poisoning your online persona - then not use it, ( the data inside can just be averagely boring and non controversial). In recruitment - most interviewees will have their FB profile analysed deeply before being interviewed, not having an FB page might lead to no invite!
I speak as an owner of many FB pages!
This seems to be the pattern - people willing to sell themselves for trinkets:
Here's a loyalty card - we won't overcharge you 10% when you shop in return for being able to track every purchase you make, the better to market at you.
Here's a GPS tracker for your car - we might give you a break on your insurance in exchange for knowing every place you go and every move you make behind the wheel.
Here's a box to monitor your TV viewing - we will give you a few bucks in exchange for having detailed knowledge of what you watch, when you watch, and how you watch.
Here's "free" Internet, so long as we can ram ads down your throat and watch where you surf.
All I have to do is tell you my grocery list every month, and I get 10% off (and customized coupons to boot)? Sounds like a good deal to me!
All I have to do is let you handle the ads, and my Internet is free (plus I stop getting ads about weight loss and basic education)? Awesome, where do I sign?
All I have to do is fire up Chrome a few times a month, and Google will pay me $25? Awesome!
My bank already knows where I shop, because they know every purchase I make with my debit card - but that costs me money to use. Many businesses (Radio Shack, I'm looking at you) require phone numbers or credit cards, and track you without giving you a dime. Assuming everyone is going to use your information anyway... wouldn't you rather get paid for it?
$25 to sell out any vestige of self-respect and privacy you might have had.
And its before tax too...remember to declare that. Actually you won't need to remember - google will probably remind when your taxes are due, and what you bill is. Oh and btw, heres a list of accountants we can recommend based on your location, tax status and recent returns...
Please post here your:
Full and real name
Address of residence
Home telephone number
Email address
Date of birth
Company name and address of your primary employer
Your credit card numbers, CVCs, expiry dates and cardholder names
Thank you.
Oh, I'm sorry, what? That information's private? But you gave the impression that privacy doesn't matter, when you call us privacy zealots frothing at the mouth. Looks like you might be doing a little frothing yourself once somebody gets hold of the above information and ruins your life with it...
It's opt-in and you're being paid for it.
That's a much better deal than even the on-street surveys - those are normally a £5 gift voucher for half an hour of your time. This is a £15 gift voucher and none of your time.
Those of you who are frothing about it - would you let them do it for £1,000,000?
How about £500,000?
Now we're just haggling on the price!
Google probably have their hooks into 70% of mainstream sites anyway - +1 links, advertising etc. and people use their site by default for search, email etc. So if you use their service almost exclusively, perhaps it's no bother to get paid for it since they're mining the info anyway.
"Google has revealed exactly how little cash it thinks a user who is willing to "sell" their data to the search giant is actually worth."
No, that is what the think a few users are worth. They only need a few users to get this going and of course there are always some who are happy to oblige. Even if it was 1 cent, some would still sign up.
It like saying this is how much companies think it will take to get people to take their clothes off. Some are happy to take their clothes of for free....
Just how much their data is worth. If google want to learn that I write for a Motorsport publication, work as a sys admin and generally only browse tech blogs, Motorsport stuff and other really unintersting stuff then fine!
All of this stuff could be worked out really quickly just by googling my name.....
One wonders if people really do live in faraday cages and where tin foil hats when going outside!
Paris because google already know all about her...
Google are offering to pay $5 for joining and $5 per three months of snooping, up to a maximum total of $25.
So that's $25 for a one-year snoopathon.
Just one year, not forever.
It's also a browser plugin, thus trivial to disable or uninstall - and you could decide to do most of your browsing on a different browser without the plugin. If Chrome isn't your normal browser you'll probably do that anyway out of habit.
This is a step in the right direction - it's saying "We value your personal info enough to pay you to collect it".
I agree with you that the price they are offering is too small, but at least they're now making an offer.
Thinking the web owes, or provides, you privacy in the first place is incorrect IMHO.
Also, what business is it of pro-privacy advocates what <other people</i> do with their private? Seems rather hypocritical that they have an interest in it.
There has to be something more to this. Everybody knows that giving people stupid gifts in exchange for survey data causes your data to represent exactly the portion of the population who like stupid gifts. Google must know it so you have to wonder what they're up to. It sounds like they've found a way to sell services to low-income people at large enough scales to make Googly-sized profits.