[freeopinion]

Your first sentence isn't exactly accurate. If you are not receiving a benefit from Facebook, why do you use it? If you don't benefit from your credit card or cellphone or bank, why do you use them? If you don't benefit from the relationship you have with your employer, why do you have that relationship?

All of those parties are collecting data about you. While there is some value to using that data internally, it is obviously valuable as a commodity to be sold to others. You might complain that your cellphone company benefited instead of you. But you gave up your data to somebody for some reason.

You can't complain about not getting invited to this weekend's party if you aren't willing to share your phone number with the organizers. If you weren't willing for them to sell that data later, you should have put them under contract. Of course, they may have responded by charging you admission to the party. If you don't like being charged admission AND getting your data sold, go to a different party or no party at all.

I know, I know. It isn't fair. Parties are a basic human right.

[vacuity]

I'll assume that you're speaking in general, because that last line especially isn't like me.

Sure, I give data to my bank. I expect them to do bank things well, and if they expect action on my part then I'm liable for not doing it. I benefit and so does the bank, because it does investing or whatever. Does that mean the bank should have carte blanche to share my data now? As a pure matter of trust, I have no recourse because I trust(ed) the bank. That's the "scary cracker breaking into the database" kind of trust.

However, I feel I'm entitled to more than that as a citizen of the fine and upstanding US of A. Governments are worthless if they don't protect the people from (or at least try to resolve) getting robbed and whatnot. I view "not getting my data spread to arbitrary parties with possibly only direct consent or knowledge on the surface level" as another thing to be protected from. A cost-benefit analysis breaks down if my benefit is "I get to use these services" and my cost is "I'm literally, financially paying and I'm tracked everywhere and I have a social credit score" and I don't have a feasible alternative.

For parties, perhaps they shouldn't be regulated the same as companies, so I guess I should be prepared for my phone number to be sold if I go. I can still complain if their excuse is dubious.

[landemva]

>> as a citizen of the fine and upstanding US of A.

If you work as W-2 in USA, your employer, or their payroll company, may be sending your payroll data including itemized withholdings to theworknumber. Some employers don't even know the payroll provider is doing this nonsense.

>> I don't have a feasible alternative.

Most people have to work.

The Work Number is good for us, says this university.

https://hrs.uni.edu/theworknumber

[vacuity]

That's deeply unfortunate. Still, I rest my case. There's a difference between using PII for the agreed-upon service and sharing/selling it to third parties for a profit. If a free service can't be sustainable by properly using the information, then it should either charge or be abundantly clear about how data is used, allowing for "right to forget" and whatnot. It's not like a service has the right to exist if the matter comes down to consumers. Given that snooping inside peoples' homes is generally unacceptable, I posit that having access to peoples' searches, browsing history, locations, etc. should also be strictly curtailed unless it is necessary. Naturally that falls on the government to enforce.