Your Personal Information Holds Your Privacy
Will users ever recognize the value of privacy by giving away personal information for free? Experience and observation would tell that many users readily give up privacy in exchange of a few cents that is not worth a candy bar. Research results indicate that over and above protecting their personal information, users put more value on saving a few cents. It seems that only data mining companies have figured out how to make money out of it.
It is estimated that Facebook now holds personal information that is worth about $100 billion. This includes the chatting, browsing and buying habits of millions of the social networking fans. Users who never appreciated the value of their personal data willingly uploaded it. Analysts say that the present trend shows personal data being traded among service providers just like any other commodity. Service providers can make thousands of dollars out of the information that users have given up for “free”.
To find out how service providers treated personal data, the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) conducted a research. Among those interviewed, 47% said that they treat it as commercial asset, while 48% admitted that they share data with third parties. Another experiment was done by the agency and they found another funny behavior among internet users. Almost two-thirds of users would prefer to share their personal information than to pay an extra 65 cents for an online purchase.
What does it cost you to simply give up your privacy online in exchange of a few bucks? You must realize that you have to pay a much higher price than you think. Security breach is at all times possible on the part of companies that hold the data. Once your data is exposed to the world, you lose control over it. It can generate about $5,000 a year to companies that “buy” from you at a price less than that of a candy bar. This is the right moment when users must put value on their privacy at a price much higher than 65 cents.
Filip Says:
No, they won’t recognize it until someone uses their personal information for something they didn’t want to.