this post was submitted on 19 Jan 2024
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Many do sell data, actually. I just literally made a post about this, with real figures instead of numbers I've previously pulled out my ass. If you click my profile it should be high up there (otherwise it will be difficult for me to find it in your own instance). This is my instance's version of the post: https://lemm.ee/post/21285233
The main source stated that the "legal" data brokerage industry, that is companies who simply buy and sell user data, was worth $319 billion in 2021.^1
You are right though, some companies (eg Google) simply collect user data and use it for themselves, they don't really sell much of what they have. This means that my figure where your average user is owed $40 per year would be an underestimation, possibly a very large one.
We could maybe add the value of Google to the industry value, however even then Google's value is offset by their various loss-leading ventures - the true value of the data Google holds is completely obscured. In any case, I need to go to bed! XD
Well, they do also sell data access to governments. The argument when the government requested data from them was "we aren't set up for this, it will incur significant expenses, we'll have to develop solutions then set up and staff a department to handle requests", which the government paid for. It's not directly purchasing the data, but it is effectively.
I'll be honest, I'm still tired from last night lol, too much so to go digging. We're also talking about something that has been the norm for more than a decade now - Google have long since established their processes for dealing with government requests. This may have started sometime around 2012, perhaps even earlier. I probably read it in an Ars Technica article, at a guess, but it could also have been something I stumbled upon on reddit.