How Much Is My Data Worth? And Why Aren't I Being Paid For It?

[Foresty_Forest]

I recently helped prevent our government from selling our medical histories to American medical companies by writing to my GP. Enough of us wrote in to stop the government in its tracks (at least I think they didn't go ahead?).

It got me thinking though, how much is my data actually worth? And why aren't I being paid for it?

It's going to get to the point where almost every activity from washing our clothes to driving our cars provides data for somebody to sell. I read somewhere that our iPhones can even tell when we go to pee-that's information worth something to somebody.

I understand that we enter into a tacit contract with Twitter and Facebook that the content we consume there is 'free', because they can collect our data and sell it. The fact that we have to consume advertising there isn't lost on me either. When we sign up to these platforms I guess we've signed away our rights to our data in the contract?

How much then is the average person's data worth annually? What reasonable percentage could we expect to receive for the use of our data if we reclaimed it? Why couldn't we reclaim our data? Why hasn't the legality of the use of our data been tested? Why aren't we being paid for it?

 

[Mark T Jones]

I recently helped prevent our government from selling our medical histories to American medical companies by writing to my GP. Enough of us wrote in to stop the government in its tracks (at least I think they didn't go ahead?).

It got me thinking though, how much is my data actually worth? And why aren't I being paid for it?

It's going to get to the point where almost every activity from washing our clothes to driving our cars provides data for somebody to sell. I read somewhere that our iPhones can even tell when we go to pee-that's information worth something to somebody.

I understand that we enter into a tacit contract with Twitter and Facebook that the content we consume there is 'free', because they can collect our data and sell it. The fact that we have to consume advertising there isn't lost on me either. When we sign up to these platforms I guess we've signed away our rights to our data in the contract?

How much then is the average person's data worth annually? What reasonable percentage could we expect to receive for the use of our data if we reclaimed it? Why couldn't we reclaim our data? Why hasn't the legality of the use of our data been tested? Why aren't we being paid for it?

It's a valid question, and one of which the market is increasingly aware.

It's widely understood that if you aren't paying for something (in the commercial world), then you are the product. Social media is the most prolific example - including this forum. Paid memberships don't keep Ozzy's Range Rover in fuel, his extravagant lifestyle is funded by corps who pay him for us.

It goes way earlier than that though - for example non-subscription TV, we are being sold to advertisers, increasingly by very close profiling.

I recently read a book called 'The Zero Dollar Car' on this very topic - in equal measures boring & enlightening. In essence, your modern car has 250+ sensors, each of which gathers data, all of which is of potential value to someone.

I don't know the actual answer to your question, but increasingly we are being 'rewarded' in exchange for data.

 

[DazRave]

As @Mark T Jones covered there, we are worth as much as the free service we're using, in return for our data.

Going from using a satnav to using google maps was wild and very futuristic for me. The fact I didn't have to purchase a £300+ TomTom and yearly maps updates and could use a far more superior product for free was mind blowing. I'm more than happy to give up some data for that privilege.

I guess the grey area is when it's not as clear cut and when you've already paid for the service you expected. Such as actually purchasing something expensive like the latest mobile phone yet it's still sharing you data with others.

 

[Ozzy]

Paid memberships don't keep Ozzy's Range Rover in fuel, his extravagant lifestyle is funded by corps who pay him for us.

Nope, it didn't and neither did any advertising revenue so I had to get ride and downgrade to one of those 'ere electric things. If it carries on much longer I'm going to need to get the pushbike out the garage!

How much then is the average person's data worth annually?

The accurate answer is anything from nothing to lots, it's only worth it's relevancy and some companies make billions from it.
To me, the value is the members here being business owners who may at time need business related services.

What reasonable percentage could we expect to receive for the use of our data if we reclaimed it?

Nothing. Just as I would not expect you to have helped pay the £1.6million I have spent this site and its associated development and marketing activities over the past two years. Of course if you did invest into BDG to fund some of that investment then of course you would be entitled to dividends in future years (assuming it all pays off - it isn't yet).

Why aren't we being paid for it?

In simple terms, because as @Mark T Jones said above. With products that provide their services for free, you are the product being sold to finance the service. The free service you are using is being funded by the customers paying for access to you, paying the person who built the platform to connect the customer to the product.