this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
749 points (98.6% liked)

Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

54716 readers
261 users here now

⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.

Rules • Full Version

1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy

2. Don't request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote

3. Don't request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs

4. Don't submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others



Loot, Pillage, & Plunder

📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):


💰 Please help cover server costs.

Ko-Fi Liberapay
Ko-fi Liberapay

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

or even pseudo-incriminated for attempting to maintain our own life.

It seems so stupid that I'm like a suspect for wanting an exchange of information without dropping my pants and bending over. No, I don't want cookies. Yes I want to read the article but no, I don't want to "sign up."

It makes me feel like being a f*cking hermit. But I prefer to pirate. Even though I'm not that good at it. Screw them. I got two private trackers, a VPN, and I hope that's enough.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 183 points 10 months ago (5 children)

It seems so strange to me that everyone buys the bullshit that personal data is worth very little.

The data brokerage industry is a multi-trillion dollar industry. Yet, there are only ~8 billion people in the world, many of whom don't have internet access or have very little data being traded. Thus it's reasonably safe to assume that an average regular internet user's data is worth somewhere in the region of $1,000 per year.

These companies don't do anything with the data. We create the data, they collect it and sell it, then whoever buys it is the one that actually makes something from it. If we allow the brokers a very generous profit margin, they are still stealing $500-700 from every one of us, every year.

[–] nodsocket@lemmy.world 53 points 10 months ago (2 children)

ChatGPT, summarize this for me like I'm a geriatric politician.

[–] Sheeple@lemmy.world 30 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Personal data worth a lot. 8 billion humans exist. Industry is multi trillion of profit. Even at only a single trillion that's 1000 dollars per person a year. It's way more than 1000.

[–] LodeMike@lemmy.today 1 points 10 months ago (3 children)

That would mean $8T total. No way it’s that much. Maybe $350 per American.

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 14 points 10 months ago

That would mean $8T total.

You're forgetting that many of the 8 billion people don't have internet or have very little data being shared.

If we assume 8 billion people and $1 trillion industry, it's only $125 a year. That's the worst case.

If we assume 4 billion people and $4 trillion industry, it's $1,000 a year. That's the best case. Perhaps a little too optimistic, but it's also very easy maths.

Working backwards from my $500 user value with 30% margin for the brokers, that's around $715 in the industry. This could be made from 6 billion people and an industry value of $4.29 trillion.

Maybe $350 per American.

Using the method above, that would be $500 in the industry, and with 6 billion people the industry would be worth $3 trillion.


To get more accurate numbers we would need a specific value for the industry. However, I think we can confidently say the value of user data is in the hundreds of dollars, not pennies as is commonly suggested.

[–] Sheeple@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

I only summarized what the other person said. Bring your complaints to him.

[–] brianorca@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Some nations would be worth more per person to a data broker than others. How many billions have no Internet? How many have little money to spend on the companies the data broker sells to? Americans and Europeans would be at the top of the list, per capita, and could easily exceed $1000, and the total would just barely top 1 trillion.

[–] Auli@lemmy.ca 1 points 10 months ago

I don’t know Google who makes all their money in data is a trillion dollar company. I’d say the industry is worth more then a trillion.

[–] muntedcrocodile@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Wait is this account a bot that can be summoned with the magic incantation chatgpt?

[–] Sheeple@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Nah I'm a demon that can be summoned with the incantation of "Cat gee, be tea"

[–] r4venw@kbin.social 3 points 10 months ago

You must be incredibly busy. I hope the underworld pays overtime

[–] PoisonedPrisonPanda@discuss.tchncs.de 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Sheeple@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

And you are a bad human :)

[–] ikidd@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Turbo@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Haha this made me chuckle. Thanks :)

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 10 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That's including showing the ads. The data itself isn't worth that much unless people are viewing them.

[–] TWeaK@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

As far as I'm aware the valuation is just data brokering - ie, the people collecting data from apps and selling to advertisers.

[–] mindbleach@sh.itjust.works 8 points 10 months ago

The efficacy of advertising is sold primarily by advertisers. It's possibly worth a vanishing fraction of what these ghouls say it's worth. But so long as buying it and acting like a greedy invasive bastard is more profitable than ignoring it, even by a tiny margin, corporate giants will keep doing it, since the cost to them is a rounding error.

The industry enabling this is large because they get to sell the same garbage to so many bastards.

[–] Anticorp@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Data is worth more than gold, and much easier to mine.