The internet offers countless services and apps we all use every day for free. We can search on Google, send messages to our friends on Facebook and even find a date, all without having to pay for the services we use. Yet somehow, the websites still make tons of money when people use their platforms. How can this be?
As a typical internet user, it might not matter to you how these services work as long as you can rely on them at your convenience. If you take the simple-minded approach that "it works for me," there's nothing I can say to convince you otherwise. I can't make you value your privacy, the internet most certainly does work, and you'll probably still be able to get all your news from the Facebook News Feed for the years and decades to come, so you've got nothing to worry about there. But this post is written for those curious folk who see something that works and wonder why—the type of people who might ask "How can we make it work better?"
Why is Everything "Free"?
In the late '90s and early 2000s, internet startups were working on lots of interesting technology they wanted to share with the world. The worldwide web was just taking off and everyone was just beginning to explore the possibilities with the new technology. E-commerce, or the ability to buy a product online instead of in a store, had already taken hold and the commercialization of the internet was largely under way.
The business model for the new e-commerce companies was clear—sell products and earn a profit. But what about things like search engines? Social networks? Blogging platforms? Email clients? Word processors? How could they make their money? Everyone knew all of these products were possible, but what was missing was a way to make money from them in the age of the internet.
Some of these things were originally sold to consumers as a product. You could go to the store, buy a CD-ROM with your word processing software on it and put the disk into your computer. But this doesn't work for every kind of software, and as time went on it became more and more unwieldy for consumers and vendors alike. Updating these programs was a huge hassle, and people started to wonder why software couldn't just be sent over the internet like a web page or as a downloadable package.
You can still buy software online (in modern times this usually takes the form of an app for your phone), but most of the popular apps and services have abandoned this way of doing business. Paying money in exchange for a stream of 1's and 0's doesn't sit well with most consumers—imagine keeping track of each app and what you paid for it up front or every month. Would you pay $10 or $20 a month for Google? What about Facebook? For most people, the answer is no.
One idea was to use "micropayments", or extremely small amounts of money you pay when you interact with a website or app. Unfortunately, credit card companies and banks charge high fees for payment processing and this idea wasn't workable. And while there are some services nowadays like Spotify where you can pay a monthly subscription, the ultimate solution for most websites was not to charge for these services at all. It was too inconvenient and they wanted to get as many people on board as quickly as possible. But if users aren't paying for these services with their money, there must be some kind of missing piece—their data.
Let's Make a Deal
Since money wasn't an option, tech companies turned to the data we all create as we go about our existence in order to conduct business in the digital world. The more data they have, the more valuable they are based on their ability to target people with ads and sell them products. The more you're comfortable giving up, the easier it will be for data companies to show you products you're interested in. To get a sense of where you stand, ask yourself these few questions and consider where you'd draw the line.
- Would you let someone know a list of everything you're most interested in to get free information about all of those topics?
- Would you let someone know the content of all your emails to get a free email app?
- Regardless of your right to make this decision on their behalf, would you let someone know a list of the names and personal details about all of your closest friends in exchange for a convenient way to interact with them?
- Would you let someone access all the messages between you and your friends in exchange for more relevant product recommendations, news stories and advertisements?
- Would you pay money to let someone read your genetic code—the very thing that defines who you are—in exchange for a glimpse into your family's lineage? The person reading your genetic code will be able to learn things you never knew about yourself, your unique desires and ways of thinking, and then use that information to target you with advertising, put it in police databases and even sell it to others. They can also read and analyze the genetic code for your parents, grandparents and any children and grandchildren you will ever have and use it for the same purposes. Not only will you have sold your own genetic makeup, but you will have made the decision on behalf of generations yet unborn.
During my time studying the issues around privacy, technology and its impact on society I've talked to many people across the spectrum. A few of my "privacy fanatic" friends would answer "no" to every question on the list in a heartbeat. They refuse to use the internet without a VPN, only use DuckDuckGo for their search engine and ProtonMail to secure their email.
On the other extreme, there are many people who will gladly embrace #5 without a second thought. They fully believe that the convenience of personalization should always trump their personal privacy. They believe that being transparent with their data will allow technology to make more informed decisions about the lives we lead and help us get the most out of every moment.
Conclusion
Since data about billions of people has become the blood pumping through the veins that keep the modern world alive, those with an understanding and consciousness about the information they generate and how it's shared are to be the only ones with sovereignty over this vital currency that makes up their existence—the things they share, the people they meet, the ideas we hold dear and even the genetic code that defines the mechanism by which we think.
I aim to give you the tools you need to claim such sovereignty—to allow you to decisively choose what and how much you're willing to share. This is why online privacy is important. If you'd like to learn more and get updates about the current state of the digital privacy landscape, be sure and sign up for my privacy newsletter. I won't sell your email address.