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How much do Google and Facebook profit from your data?
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So that data you’re giving away online is worth something, but have you ever taken a stab at figuring out how much? A just-released privacy add-on for Firefox and Chrome, Privacyfix, gives it the old college try. Both Congress and the executive branch have been talking more about online privacy in the past couple years.
The estimates for Google and Facebook are imprecise, as the program’s creator, Privacy Choice founder Jim Brock, readily admits. “We wanted people to understand, it is a value exchange” when they use these sites, said Brock.
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Brock says his estimated annual Facebook value was a mere $1.68. His daughter, perhaps unsurprisingly, is at $12. His Google value checks in at more than $700 per year, though.
The add-on also tells you how many of the websites you visit feed data back to Facebook and Google. I was surprised to see that Facebook is tracking me across 87 percent of the Internet, despite the fact that I’m a minimal user of Facebook.
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Who is fooling who? One little example, I send a single email about how to anchor a small yacht, several times mentioning an anchor windlass (small, manual winch to wind up 20kg anchor). youtube ads spontaneously appear from a company that sells anchor windlasses that weigh more than my entire boat.
I use Facebook a fair bit, and the ads they show me still rot in major ways. Very, very little tailoring and relevance.
I looked at this add-on. It appears to use their servers for your settings. Not sure that adds to security or is a potential leak point. I did write them about this asking where the configs are kept. No reply yet.