[alenrozac]

Remember, if it's free, you're the product.

How common is this in privacy policies? > For security and privacy reasons, we request that you abstain from disclosing personal information, including passwords, credit card numbers, or other confidential data. Our commitment to safeguarding your privacy is unwavering, but the security of personal information also relies on safe user practices.

[whiplash451]

> Remember, if it's free, you're the product

That was until the 2020s.

Now you pay and you are the product.

[luckman212]

Wait till 2026:

You pay, and your'e the product, AND the product is broken, AND the devs and customer service have been replaced by an AI chatbot that is very polite but only gives incorrect answers. The future is bright.

[aaomidi]

If not explicit, this is practically applicable to every ai chat bot out there with limited exceptions.

[KineticLensman]

Actually you often aren't the product, you are instead the raw material from which Meta/Google/etc creates their saleable products: e.g. profiles of recipients for targeted ads.

[poisonborz]

However true this is _here_, I really dislike this sentence, as it spills capitalist sentiment and distrust. How much are you the product when using Firefox (even if Mozilla gets ad revenue). How much are you the product with an OSS or community product, or a free tier for a reputable cloud offering?

[idle_zealot]

Exactly. The phrase is wrong in every sense. You're pointing out the common case where something is free and offered in good faith (a terrifying and confusing concept for the Free Market faithful). There is also the exceedingly common case of both paying for something and being screwed by whoever sold it to you. Eg buying a Windows license and getting ads in the start menu.

The real lesson is: look at incentives/motivations. Are you transacting with a group that has power to unilaterally determine terms and reason to weigh them in their favor? They will.

[xeonmc]

In other words: “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”