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by volak 2824 days ago
Collecting data subsidizes the cost of the service.

Would facebook have 1 billion users if it cost $5.99 a month?

Data collection is not going anywhere, so long as people are willing (even unknowingly) to give up info for a perceived discount.

Now here - fill out my form with your address, email, phone, photo id, and passport number for a chance to win a brand new 2019 Honda!
3 comments
Carpetsmoker 2823 days ago
There have been many free ad-supported services that don't collect your data for many years: newspapers, TV channels, radio, etc.

"Accept data collection or pay for it" is a false dichotomy. Ad-supported websites don't need data collection to be profitable, just as NBC doesn't.

Furthermore, there are many paid services that collect data as well. Last time I flew with KLM the online check-in didn't work because some JS errored out as its data collection script was blocked. Turned out it was sending data to 17 domains on the on-line checkin page:

4232724.fls.doubleclick.net ad.atdmt.com apps.static-afkl.com c.webtrends.com cdn.tagcommander.com connect.facebook.com dynamic.dimml.io googleads.g.doubleclick.net lm.commander1.com platform.twitter.com sjs.bizographics.com statse.webtrendslive.com t.svtrd.com tdn.r42tag.com w.usabilla.com www.google-analytics.com www.googleadservices.com

And KLM isn't even a budget airline like RyanAir. I paid good money for my flight.

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true_religion 2824 days ago
Well Facebook makes about $1.50 per year per user. So they could charge a lot less than almost $6 per month, but it would be harder to capture that money.
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frgtpsswrdlame 2824 days ago
>Data collection is not going anywhere, so long as people are willing (even unknowingly) to give up info for a perceived discount.

People are willing in large part because they have no clue what their data is actually worth and/or what pieces of their data are actually out there. Data collection survives because people don't realize they're already paying $5.99 a month (or whatever the real breakeven number is.)

I think it's a pretty good rule of markets that people should know what it is they're exchanging. To that end I should be able to see what these companies gather on me when I use their service.

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