Paying us for our data won't nearly compensate us for the loss of our democracy. Quite the opposite: it puts an exact price on how cheap that comes about.
People who are using hyperbolic untruths like "Facebook is stealing our democracy" or "your data is being sold" should be warned: non-analytical politicians may introduce regulation framed by these falsehoods. For example, a law regulating that Facebook not tamper in elections or sell user data would be a home run for Facebook, because they have done neither.
Speaking the truth in this instance is both more productive and also should frankly be more scary than the hyperbolic distilled versions that are oft thrown around: mining user data with AI systems to sell products to measurably alter human behavior is an unregulated industry and likely should be.
This "dividend" nonsense is transparently ridiculous since it misses the point of the problem -- that incentives here yield damaging societal effects -- but again, here we see the result of the "Facebook sells your data" meme/falsehood: politicians conclude if they just pay users for the data, the problem is solved, right?
Mining peoples' data to shape political discourse is not a falsehood.
Nonetheless, you are elsewise correct: mining user data to sell products to measurably alter human behavior is an unregulated industry and likely should be.
I agree, and paying people directly doesn't make a whole lot of economic sense.
But if it meaninfully increases the cost of using the targeted data, it could be an interesting trade-off.
Almost like a carbon tax isn't designed to raise revenue, a personal data tax could discourage the "use it by default" mentality, since it would come with a cost.
Speaking the truth in this instance is both more productive and also should frankly be more scary than the hyperbolic distilled versions that are oft thrown around: mining user data with AI systems to sell products to measurably alter human behavior is an unregulated industry and likely should be.
This "dividend" nonsense is transparently ridiculous since it misses the point of the problem -- that incentives here yield damaging societal effects -- but again, here we see the result of the "Facebook sells your data" meme/falsehood: politicians conclude if they just pay users for the data, the problem is solved, right?