How much is your privacy worth? A new startup called Datacoup is making headlines for its radical business model: The company will pay you up to $8 per month for anonymized access to your financial data and social media accounts.
Datacoup customers are asked to sign over access to their Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and other social media accounts, as well as information on debit and credit card transactions. The linked data will then be stripped of personally identifying details and sold to advertisers eager to find trends and target you with highly specific messaging.
With Datacoup, you have the option to sell only the data you want – linking more accounts means more money. You also get to decide who buys your data.
“If a consumer wants to make an educated decision, they should be able to sell their data to who they want,” explained Datacoup CEO Matt Hogan to the MIT Technology Review. “I happen to believe that putting you in control of your own asset, your data, makes for a more efficient market.”
Datacoup reminds us that the personal information we gladly hand over for free online has real value to moneyed corporate interests. Sure, it may seem silly to sign over your life’s story for a lousy eight bucks, but right now, you’re probably giving Facebook most of the same info for free.
Datacoup is currently in private beta. You can read more about Datacoup in the MIT Technology Review or by visiting the company’s website at datacoup.com.
[Woman with piggy bank via Shutterstock]
Three flaws in Datacoup's business model
From Leaflad on February 17, 2014 :: 5:18 am
Though not totally new, it is a great idea to pay consumers for sharing their data. However, in our opinion, there seem to be several flaws in Datacoup’s business model.
1. by authorizing Datacoup to have access to your Facebook, Twitter and other (social) services, you provide them with more information than you are probably willing to share. Though Datacoup states that the user decides what information he wants to share, there is no way to be sure that other information is not being used.
2. as mentioned in the article, as a consumer you have no idea what happens to you data and therefore you’re not in control.
3. the main reason for advertisers to use Datacoup’s insights would be to provide consumers with (targeted) personalized ads & promotions. How are they going to do that when the data is anonymous?
At Leaflad we’ve been working on the same subject and are currently developing a personal advertising magazine where consumers have full control over the data they want to share and receive 20% of the advertising revenue. One of the biggest advantages for consumers AND advertisers is that Leaflad is not only a personal data service, but also a platform for publishing and viewing personalized ads & promotions.
You can now sign up for our beta at www.leaflad.com
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