US Senators Want Social Media Firms To Tell Users How Much Their Data Is Worth (cnbc.com) 64
An anonymous reader shares a report from CNBC: A bipartisan team of senators introduced a bill Monday to require social media companies to disclose more information about the data they collect and monetize from their consumers. The Dashboard Act, which stands for Designing Accounting Safeguards to Help Broaden Oversight And Regulations on Data, aims to help consumers understand the price of using social media services that are free on face value. The bill seeks to require "commercial data operators" with more than 100 million monthly active users to disclose the type of data they collect from users and give them "an assessment of the value of that data," according to a press release announcing the bill. It also would require the companies to file an annual report disclosing third-party contracts involving data collection and give users the right to delete some or all of their collected data.
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That's awesome.
How much is your data worth? (Score:1)
The IRS wants to know so they can send you a bill.
Re: How much is your data worth? (Score:2)
Just have the IRS bill the social media companies and it will trickle down.
Brain-dead libertarian (Score:2, Interesting)
You libertarians are the stupdist motherfuckers alive. No progress will be made until you get a clue or die.
The state and the corporations are not separate antagonistic forces that you can balance one way or another. (Even if you had the power to do so)
It is one unified system over you.
Military - industrial complex
Military - industrial - congressional complex
Military - industrial - media complex
Military - entertainment - complex
Military - digital complex
Prison - industrial complex
These criticisms are all as
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You libertarians are the stupdist motherfuckers alive.
Yeah. I don' know why anyone would want liberty.
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Who exactly are the retards moderating a AC up?
The USA's Gross GDP for 2019 should be around 19 trillion. The "Military industrial complex" gets 1% of that compared to the social redistribution systems (AKA welfare) 60% so tell me again how the AC gets a Interesting score ?
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My rectum excretes a dark sticky bacteria laden sludge full of mucus, disease, infection, and death.
So does your mouth.
Is this the champion of all acronyms? (Score:2)
"The Dashboard Act, which stands for Designing Accounting Safeguards to Help Broaden Oversight And Regulations on Data, "
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No, it's fairly common. Most government projects and bills do the same thing, come up with a cute name and backronym it. The most famous result is the Patriot Act (officially, the USA Patriot Act, in case you were worried the US government was supporting Libya or something.). USA Patriot Act is technically (and legally) an acronym for " Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism " Personally, I think the USA part is unnecessary both as p
Easy calculation? (Score:4, Interesting)
Facebook made about $55 billion in revenue last year with about 2.38 billion active monthly users. So it looks like the average user's data is worth about $2 per month. If you look instead at profit that would be just under $1 per month per user. Very active users are obviously worth a bit more, and those who rarely use Facebook are worth far less.
Not exactly sure why we need a solution like this when it isn't that hard to identify the value of your data to these companies.
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Facebook made about $55 billion in revenue last year with about 2.38 billion active monthly users. So it looks like the average user's data is worth about $2 per month.
Since this is a U.S. bill, shouldn't we only be looking at U.S. figures?
https://s21.q4cdn.com/399680738/files/doc_financials/2018/Q4/Q4-2018-Earnings-Presentation.pdf
Facebook doesn't break out their Average Revenue Per User for the U.S. by itself. They combine the U.S. and Canada. ARPU for 2018 was:
1Q 2018 = $23.59
2Q 2018 = $25.91
3Q 2018 = $27.61
4Q 2018 = $34.86
Total = $111.97
That works out to roughly $9.33 per user per month.
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That's $9.33 being taken from people who don't all give informed consent. So it is robbery on a massive scale.
Hardly. You make it sound like Facebook is stealing $9 out of each user's back account. That's not at all what's happening.
Glad we can establish this. It's nothing more than using people to earn income without paying them for it. The southern United States and many former empires were based on this asinine idea.
And like slavery, they all ended.
In short it's no
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It seems we users are getting cheaper over time. Probably a good thing ;-)
Why? It means they'll try to be even more invasive, grab even more data by ever-sneakier means.
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It seems we users are getting cheaper over time. Probably a good thing.
Well, they're getting dumber, so...
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That works out to roughly $9.33 per user per month.
Some of that will be legitimate, i.e. ads shown on Facebook. I'm guessing an ad shown in people's Facebook feeds is quite expensive.
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So, the obvious reason we need this bill is: (1) Most people aren't going to seek out the data, and should be encouraged to think about the value of their data. (2) An average, esp. a global average, is meaningless. Partially because of location (you see another response points out your number is likely off by a multiple of 5), but more importantly because averages are really meaningless in this situation. (3) Revenue and the value of the data are very different. For instance, serving ads is not selling d
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Yes, the ads monetize personal data. I agree. I just don't think this Act covers that use.
I might want to have a problem solved in less than 3 generations.
I'm really at a loss. You think that it's more than a few hours of
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Facebook made about $55 billion in revenue last year with about 2.38 billion active monthly users.
Most of those users are in the 3rd World, and (currently) have little value for Facebook. In advertising revenue, a user in America is worth 10 times as much a user in India.
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Facebook made about $55 billion in revenue last year with about 2.38 billion active monthly users. So it looks like the average user's data is worth about $2 per month.
That's an overly-high estimate. It assumes that all of the value of Facebook's operations derives from user data, but running an advertising business requires a lot more than just having data on which to make targeting decisions. To correctly estimate the value of the user data, you have to work out what Facebook's ad revenue would be if it did its advertising without user data.
Value of Data Already Reported (Score:5, Informative)
The bill seeks to require "commercial data operators" with more than 100 million monthly active users to disclose the type of data they collect from users and give them "an assessment of the value of that data"
Facebook reports what each person's data is worth every quarter. They call it ARPU, Average Revenue Per User.
For the U.S. and Canada, it was $30.12 last quarter.
For Europe, it was $9.55
For Asia-Pacific, it was $2.78
Facebook Q1 2019 Results [q4cdn.com]
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For the U.S. and Canada, it was $30.12 last quarter.
For Europe, it was $9.55
I wonder why the huge disparity. Could be EU privacy laws blocking some of their abusive revenue streams, could be lower engagement, could be stricter advertising rules. Or maybe Europeans just buy less stuff.
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I get the impression that the Cambridge Analytica scandal was much bigger news here than in the US. We actually had real-world adverts from Facebook trying to make us trust them again, it was that bad.
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GDP per capita is about 50% higher in the US than in the EU. And the difference is likely to be higher if we include non-EU European countries.
Also, taxes tend to be higher in Europe, more regulations, more protection. Culture too. Facebook is an american company, so it fits the american culture better, that includes language. Some Facebook products may also be only available in the US. I think Europeans also tend to use ad blockers a bit more.
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You are. You are permitted to use their services.
The Golden Age of Voyeurism (Score:2)
The reason personal data is so valuable is that there is a large number of voyeurs willing to pay for it.
They are placed high enough in their respective corporations to make purchasing decisions and will gladly dispense company cash to satisfy their personal curiosity about other people's lifes.
How many of those who buy personal data do really know what to do with it to improve their products? To actually "serve the customerr better" ?
They do it to feel personally empowered, and as long as there is demand
Like they'll actually tell them. (Score:2)
"Your info is worth maybe 10 cents."
Never mind that they use a list of personal data to serve millions of dollars of ads.
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Oh just quit it with the backronyms. (Score:3)
B. It's pointless.
C. Just because A&B also describe the bulk of our legislators doesn't mean it should apply to how we name bills.
Should add: "and then Pay them for it" (Score:2)
'nuff sed.
Seriously, why not pay people for the data they supply?
Oh, right.
"Business model" and all that.
Silly me.
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About tree fiddy! (Score:1)
small minded thinking (Score:1)
If—instead of those useless GDPR shenanigans—they showed me how much ad revenue my visit /would/ generate with ads and trackers enabled, i'd disable my ad blocker and pay that amount +100% premium to disable the ads and trackers.