Your personal data is a goldmine, but would you ever consider selling it?

Web users should have the right to know how their personal data is used. INQUIRER.net stock photo

Californians have approved a future law seeking to strengthen the protection of their personal information online. The legislation aims to bolster the current California Consumer Privacy Act and seeks to make how users’ personal date is used less opaque. It would also create the California Privacy Protection Agency to implement and enforce the data protection legislation.

Could this mean that tech’s Big Five (GAFA) would one day have to pay consumers to continue using their personal information? The subject is particularly vast, since it concerns data such as sex, race, religion and sexual orientation, as well as identity and contact details.

In the future, it’s therefore highly possible that personal data could become a commodity for internet users. Those who want to could therefore agree to sell their personal information. But, on the other hand, certain services could turn the question around, offering to not sell or monetize the data as the price to pay for keeping the peace. It’s a whole field that will need to be clarified and the debates could get heated, since this new law isn’t expected to take effect until Jan. 1, 2023.

The monetization of data is a hot topic the world over. In France, for example, a platform called Tadata proposes payment for the personal data of 15- to 25-year-olds. Users fill out a slew of forms in the hope of getting paid each time an advertiser shows interest in their profile. RGA

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