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Facebook Social Networks The Almighty Buck Technology

Facebook Would Have To Pay $3.50 Per Month To US Users For Sharing Contact Info, Study Finds (reuters.com) 39

German Facebook users would want the social media platform to pay them about $8 per month for sharing their contact information, while U.S. users would only seek $3.50, according to a study of how people in various countries value their private information. From a report: The study by U.S. based think tank the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) is the first that attempts to quantify the value of online privacy and data. It assessed how much privacy is worth in six countries by looking at the habits of people in the United States, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Columbia and Argentina. It addresses growing concern about how companies from technology platforms to retailers have been collecting and monetizing personal data. U.S. regulators have imposed hefty fines on Facebook Inc and Alphabet-owned Google's YouTube unit for privacy violations. "Differences in how much people value privacy of different data types across countries suggests that people in some places may prefer weaker rules while people in other places might prefer stronger rules," Scott Wallsten, president and senior fellow at TPI told Reuters. "Quantifying the value of privacy is necessary for conducting any analysis of proposed privacy policies," he said.
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Facebook Would Have To Pay $3.50 Per Month To US Users For Sharing Contact Info, Study Finds

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  • by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @06:05PM (#59770642) Journal
    Need I say more?
    Death to Facebook.
    • OoookkkK, RICK SCHUMANN.

    • So if you had a choice between giving a stranger your email and phone number, or forfeiting everything you own or will ever own, you would choose to give up your assets?

      If not, then your privacy is not "priceless" because you just put a price on it.

      • What the actual fuck are you even talking about?
        • It seemed pretty clear to me.
        • seems pretty obvious. People that make stupid statements like it is priceless are usually just ignorant and haven't thought about what price they would actually put on it. My privacy is important, but certainly not priceless.
          • Is invading my privacy worth your life? Because that's what I'll ask you or anyone else when I put the hunting knife up your neck for sticking your nose in my business.
            Fuck Facebook
            Fuck all so-called 'social media'
            Death to all nosy assholes sticking their greedy little noses where it does not belong
            MY PRIVATE LIFE IS NOT FOR SALE, EAT SHIT AND DIE.

            That clear enough for you all? Or do I need to sharpen my knife?
            • by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

              To assign a value to something that is "priceless" just list things that you think are more important an things that are less. Chances are that you are going to find items with dollar values attached to it. This will help you give a price to the "priceless" thing you are talking about.

              We already know you are ready to kill in order to protect your privacy. It means that your privacy is worth more than the life of a random stranger. Since you dodged the question about forfeiting all your assets in order to pr

              • I honestly think it's sad that we live in a world where literally EVERYTHING about our lives must be assigned a dollar amount. The fact that people are arguing this intently to try to tie every little aspect of life, dreams, hopes, fears, everything, a dollar amount, it's brutally apparent that something is fundamentally broken to those of us that like to think dollars and cents are not the be all end all of human existence.
                • by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

                  There is nothing special about dollars. It is just a way of valuing things that we are all familiar with.
                  You use any other unit if you wish. You can value things in hugs and kisses if you prefer. It is just less convenient.

                  Of course, dollars are not perfect, even with material items. We are full of biases (sunk costs, loss aversion, etc...) and we can get to situations where a dollar is not worth a dollar. Utility theorists use arbitrary units such as "util" instead. But I find it easier to think in dollars

                • If you really feel that things shouldn't have a monetary value, you can demonstrate your displeasure by giving away all your stuff for free.

                  • Oh for fuck's sake how does ANYONE LIKE YOU GET THROUGH LIFE BEING SO GODDAMNED PEDANTiC AND LITERAL!?
                    You want a dollar value for my 'private life' and 'privacy'? Fine: INFINTY+1 .
                    Now go fuck yourself old man.
              • Do yourself a favor and stop being a pedantic bore. You're giving everyone a headache.
            • funny, obviously your a fuckwit that doesn't value their privacy at all as you think threatening someone on the internet is tough lol. Grow the fuck up kid. You are posting on the internet, your have already sold some of your private life and thoughts (as fucked up as they are), obviously they are for sale.
    • In response to your first question: no, it's not priceless to me. Certain elements of my private life are "priceless" in that I wouldn't divulge them, but these are very specific things that I want to keep secret because they are embarrassing or socially frowned upon. Pretty much anything else I don't care about. I don't care if Google, Facebook, Scumbag Analytics, or anyone else knows my age, sex, race, political background, general interests, profession, food preferences, or any other pieces of informatio
  • My starting figure is $1,000,000 per item.

    If we negotiate further, the price goes up.

    I live in a state with a Constitutional Right of Privacy.

    • Then Facebook is violating it.

      Actually, though, it isn't.

      You waived your right of privacy when you agreed to its Terms of Service.

      But in general, I'm with you. I'd start very high, and if they bitched, I'd just go higher.
    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      $1,000,000 per item

      So Facebook will just walk away. And then ask your friends for information on you.

      I live in a state with a Constitutional Right of Privacy.

      Your state (and mine) will trip over itself to be the first to sell its DMV records. And whatever else they have on us.

  • I've got nothing to hide!

  • by RightSaidFred99 ( 874576 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @06:27PM (#59770732)

    By definition the amount Facebook pays you, in kind, for your information is the cost of using Facebook's hosting services and software products.

    Facebook should have to clearly lay out what they do with your information and they should have to abide by those rules - that's it. At that point it's up to you to use or not use their services in exchange.

    • By definition the amount Facebook pays you, in kind, for your information is the cost of using Facebook's hosting services and software products.

      Facebook maintains shadow profiles on people that have no Facebook account and do not use their services.

  • by Mononymous ( 6156676 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @06:30PM (#59770748)

    This was a survey of Facebook users. They're all already letting Facebook share their contact info for $0.

    • Yep, there at the bottom of the actual paper from the Technology Policy Institute it specifically says
      "For the carrier, Facebook, and smartphone surveys, respondents were required to have a carrier subscription, a Facebook account, or own a smartphone, respectively."
      So people who actually value privacy were not surveyed.

  • by Solandri ( 704621 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @06:38PM (#59770790)
    • Facebook 2018 US & Canada revenue: $27.0 billion [q4cdn.com].
    • Facebook U.S. and Canada monthly users in 2018: 242 million
    • Facebook revenue per U.S. and Canadian user: $111 per year. Or $9.25 per month per user.
    • $3.50/mo per user = $42/yr per user.

    So according to this study, U.S. and Canada users would give away their data for 38% of what it's actually worth.

    Same calculation for Europe:

    • Facebook 2018 Europe revenue: $13.8 billion.
    • Facebook Europe monthly users in 2018: 381 million
    • Facebook revenue per European user: $36.22 per year. Or $3.02 per month per user.
    • $8/mo per user they calculate for Germany = $96/yr per user. 2.6x more than revenue.

    Which I suppose is another way of saying Germans value their privacy enough that a business model like Facebook would not work there (they would lose money).

  • by darkain ( 749283 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @06:53PM (#59770868) Homepage

    Headline should read: "Users in US value themselves less than their Netflix subscription"
    or "Users in US value themselves less than avocado toast"
    or "Users in US value themselves than their morning Starbuck coffee"

    And THEN they'll start paying attention.

  • by locater16 ( 2326718 ) on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @07:06PM (#59770950)
    Has anyone noticed if these respondents were eight story tall crustaceans from the protozoic era?
  • Facebook will now charge $3.49 per month to US users.
    Why not $3.50 you say? Well, if you want to get back your pennies, you can always give Facebook your bank account information.

  • Forget cash, what about contacts (or whatever) in exchange for streaming video subscriptions?

    If Facebook provided a "free" Hulu account, or account upgrade (to no ads or an extra service) if you already have one, in exchange for opting-in to data collection (or not opting-out), I bet it would both be a very popular move and help keep them out of hot water.

  • There's no way I would agree to only $3.50. Of course the problem is that in order to pay everyone they would need to raise revenues. Would anyone care to guess how they would raise those funds?

  • The entire reason for Facebook to sell our information is that advertisers will pay Facebook so that they can target users with all the adds that we users hate to have to click or page through. Each of us has a subjective price they would place on their own privacy as well as a price they would place on their valuable time wasted playing whack-a-mole while clicking browser control buttons to remove the ads that come as a result of that invasion of our privacy. First, they sell our privacy to the advertizers

  • Tree fiddy

    I don't think it comes from where you think it did.

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