People - not the ones here on HN - have no clue what they 'give' away. They also have no clue how often small companies, indie game devs etc make a living by selling said information that was 'given' to them.
These data aggregators can build profiles on people by buying data from as many sources as possible.
How is the average user supposed to know this happens on the background when they load www.nytimes.com? How are they supposed to know that those flashy banners contain entire programs designed to track them?
How should the average user now that the ad banners on acb.com are the same as on xyz.com?
How should the average user know that a FB button on every website also tracks you. As does G+ button, as does Twiter etc...
How are regular users supposed to know how much data they produce online.
Honestly it even scares me to see how many JS is loaded on average websites. Just for tracking, just for profile building.
These data aggregators can build profiles on people by buying data from as many sources as possible.
How is the average user supposed to know this happens on the background when they load www.nytimes.com? How are they supposed to know that those flashy banners contain entire programs designed to track them?
How should the average user now that the ad banners on acb.com are the same as on xyz.com?
How should the average user know that a FB button on every website also tracks you. As does G+ button, as does Twiter etc...
How are regular users supposed to know how much data they produce online.
Honestly it even scares me to see how many JS is loaded on average websites. Just for tracking, just for profile building.
This isn't given. It's taken.