[neilv]

As a journalist once said to me, regarding a different topic (local politics in some city), something like: I wasn't surprised that bribes were happening; I was surprised that the bribes were so small.

Similar applies here: incredulous that, in various aspects of the tech industry, customers/users are often being sold out for such small amounts of money.

(Though manufacturing is easier to understand than a lot of software-only businesses, which aren't about cost engineering.)

[bee_rider]

It sort of makes sense. Like, I’m very bothered by this spyware-industrial system and put a high value on my privacy. But, objectively, I am extremely boring and seeing what I’m looking at is actually worth much less than $15.

It is actually really weird how popular this business model has become (I guess it is a thing because people don’t read the fine print). Invasion of privacy is, I think, extremely asymmetric, so the business model of spying on people is a huge destroyer of value.