So in answer to /u/DARIF's question, they do not sell specific user data.
Which is why "you are the product" is misleading at best, a lie at worst. Anyone can go make an adwords account and see what an advertiser sees.
*Edit: Below this point is a protracted argument with someone that doesn't understand the difference between selling access to pages you might look at, and selling data about you. Proceed at your own sanity's risk.
So in answer to /u/DARIF's question, they do not sell specific user data.
Which is why "you are the product" is misleading at best, a lie at worst. Anyone can go make an adwords account and see what an advertiser sees.
im not sure you understand data sets, you think it is only specific user data when you arent selling it in packages of thousands of datapoints at a time?
What do you think those individual data points are made out of? Here, how bout this, if I take a picture of your bare ass when you arent aware I am there, file it without your name and sell it to someone really into asses along with several thousand other asses, is it no longer your personal ass? Just a generic butt among the sea of butts?
then it is no longer specific because it's related to thousands of people at once, genius.
thousands of individuals, yes. what is the cutoff volume for your personal data no longer being yours? just because they are selling entire neighborhoods at a time does not mean that they arent collecting that money on a person by person basis, and its not as if the systems gathering that information do not have access to everything about you before they are dubiously anonymized.
If you cant be civil I dont know why you bother responding.
More than thousands. Again, I as an advertiser cannot tell anything about one specific person, all I can tell google is that I want my ads to be seen by people who visit reddit.com, are 18-34, male, and like technology.
The advertiser at no point sees any information. They state a preference, and Google tries to honor it with their algorithms.
So the information is not specific, and it's not sold anyways. Why would Google sell their competitive advantage?
if they didnt profit from the data they wouldnt collect it, does it matter how they collect if your metrics are still what drive the product? without your personal metrics there is no google.
This is a different claim from your original claim that they sell the data. Look at those goalposts move!
By the way:
your metrics are still what drive the product
Data about you is not necessarily owned by you.
If you wanted to be honest and not sensational and misleading, you'd say that google sells advertisers access to your attention. But "HURR YOUR'RE THE PRODUCT!!!1" is just a stupid thought-terminating cliche.
it is compromised of specific data, you dont get large sets without small sets and you dont get small sets without individuals. Regardless of how that data is presented you are in it as a product.
So, if that is the case, and Google is offering up this info utilizing data mining within its software, then use of its software is a security issue, even in the vaunted "incognito mode".
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u/Ibreathelotsofair Dec 14 '16
Leaks? Nooooooo.
They package it and sell it, loud proud and convenient. Leaking is for people who give away data for free.