"I think in class we incorrectly assume that people do not want advertising or data aggregation. This is just not empirically true."

I think this is true and false. Part of the argument against data aggregation is that even if we think we want it, we don't because of what it has the potential to do. It has the potential to raise prices based on knowing a given person in particular will pay more than others for a product. (I recently was looking at a CD on Amazon, about two months ago, and it was 8.99. I signed in and turned on Amazon Prime and it was suddenly 9.99. I sent Amazon a note asking them about it. They never replied. I saved the screenshot, though at the time I figured it was a glitch. Maybe not.). It has the potential to be turned against us in the event of a data breach. It offers the government new ways to know who people are and what they think about all sorts of things. It offers to reveal secrets about all users in ways the users wouldn't guess. Now maybe you have no secrets, maybe the government will only learn that you are a super-citizen and want to send you a Valentine's Day card once it knows all about you, and maybe your data won't be hacked. Today. As we talked about in class, memory is now eternal. The price of Facebook Recommendations today might be zero, as you suggest. Or, it might just be one of those no payments for 90 days things. If the bill comes due, there's no refund on privacy. What is said is said eternal, etched in silicon.

Now, that said, the part that I think is true is that you are clearly not alone in being willing to trade privacy for the benefits you discuss. I am not yet, in this regard, taking all my own soapbox advice. So I certainly do understand where you are coming from.

-- BrianS - 20 Nov 2009