While it's true you can be paying someone to sell you to some third-party, it's virtually never the case where a private firm offers you a service completely gratis without sell you to some third-party. Furthermore, without the exchange of funds, you lose a lot of legal protections and the ability to hold the company accountable for a lot of their actions.
I know it might be annoying to hear it over and over, but I think it bares repeating because I can guarantee you that only some people have heard that phrase, and far fewer have truly understood it's impact.
It is. There is nobody here who hasn't heard it a dozen times, and the general public audience it should be aimed at doesn't understand it.
Further, it is cited as a rule but it is far from one. Paying for a product doesn't guarantee your privacy and using a free product doesn't mean your privacy is being violated.
For ex. you can pay for Google Apps over Gmail but the privacy policy and terms of use is still the same (I actually can't think of a single service with a pro paid level where you gain privacy - Flickr, Dropbox, Freshbooks, Mailchimp, LinkedIn, Salesforce, Office online - you name it). Likewise there are countless examples of free and open source software that do respect your privacy.
I don't think there is a shortcut to teaching the general public about privacy - especially not one that can be wrapped in a one line cliche.
> Paying for a product doesn't guarantee your privacy and using a free product doesn't mean your privacy is being violated.
While what you say is logical, it gets scary pretty quickly. What about uber? What about airbnb? Or worse, what about paypal, intuit, wells fargo?
I propose a simple thought experiment as a band-aid. If we can't beat them, we must join them. Every company that collects information about me, must disclose the said information to me. Failure to disclose in a reasonable time frame should result in an automatic fine worth 100x minimum wage per hour every hour after the end of the reasonable time frame. Of course, we'd need very strong whistle blower protection. This would be a terrible idea because if it works (and I doubt it), it will have a huge chilling effect on small businesses. Responding to all the requests would put them out of business.
I don't know what the solution could be... but I know educating people is difficult especially when the people don't want to be educated.
It's getting a bit repetitive in this thread, but I can't help but to mention that what you're proposing is the legal status quo in the EU.
At some point so many people started annoying Facebook with these requests that they added a self-service option to download all the data they have on you somewhere in setting. (Google has something similar, "Google takeout")
I assure you, millions of people pay good money for the privilege of having their eyeballs and viewing preferences sold to advertisers. As said above - we call it cable television.
Just because you are a customer does not mean you won't be monetized.
I completely agree with this; however, there is another way to approach the situation. I recently went through almost the exact same experience OP did and decided to cut everything extraneous out of my life and take a remote dev job. This has allowed me to slow life down, re-focus on the things that matter in life and build up my bank account. THIS gives me the freedom to go and create and build and run whatever I want if I so choose.
So, don't feel bad doing a job. Nothing is beneath you, and everything is always a stepping stone between where you are now and where you will be later.
"The official site of Zach Galifianakis. Zach is so happy that you found his site. Though he doesn't have the ablility to feel any shred of emotion for another human being he is content that his money was well spent in a website. Do not attempt to make contact, physical or otherwise, with Zach Galifianakis or any of his associates. Failure to follow such requests could result in loneliness and an overall realization that you and someone of his magnitude can never be friends. Zach Galifianakis does accept money. No sexual favors will be handed out for such monkeys received. Zach Galifianakis does not like children unless under the influence of something strong at a high dose. Zach Galifiankis spells his name as such to confuse the living fuck out of you, all your friends, your friends friends and the Pope. Do not question Zach Galifianakis."
Without following the Ron Baker links, what is a good scenario for how to calculate and use value pricing?
Is it along these lines?
"ABC business needs a custom inventory management solution which also doubles as an e-commerce platform. This will likely generate them X amount of money per year, so we're going to price this solution at Y."
If so, how do you quantify these variables?
note: I have no business degree and am a developer.
