What if I told you I had an idea? What if that idea was to build a platform that let millions of people around the world make their own little website for free? A natural question would be how on earth I would expect to pay for it much less make any money from it.
It turns out the answer to that question is simple. You let all those millions generate content for you so that people will go to your platform. Then you contract with other, bigger companies to throw a bunch of ads up on everyone’s sites. Even better, you get a little kickback every time someone buys something from those ads. Sounds like genius right? What if I told you it gets even better? What if this platform were to collect all kinds of data about everyone using it so that you could make sure they see the ads that are most likely to get their attention? Oh, but that isn’t even everything. It turns out this platform could even get all that data and sell it to a variety of third parties. And yes, it would all be completely legal because to make use of this platform everyone would agree to a list of terms of service that would make the most experienced and conniving lawyer yank his hair out. In short, this idea is to provide a rough framework so that millions can generate tons of data that will help us sell other people’s things to them and then we even sell the data.
That is the basic model of Facebook and pretty much every major social media company. Now, depending on your perspective, this is genius, megalomaniacal, or both. What pushes it closer to the megalomaniacal end of the spectrum is the fact that as much money as this model generates (in the billions) it still apparently is not enough. Facebook and everyone else continues to seek out new and innovative ways to get you to part with your money and one of the most recent actually got them in a bit of hot water.
Where did this happen? In Illinois, which happens to have some of the toughest biometric security laws in the United States. The issue that got the attention of people there was Facebook’s use of facial recognition software. It turns out that they have started scanning and storing images of people’s faces in their servers. They do this through both the photos people upload and the new facial recognition log on options. They then cross-reference your face with others to suggest people you should tag in photos, suggest to other people they should tag you and make friend request suggestions. Not only is Facebook scanning and storing your face, not only are they using it to flood your feed with interactions you might not want, and likely doing it all to build a more complete profile so they can advertise to you even more effectively, they are doing it all without your consent.
This got a lot of people complaining and a class-action lawsuit was brought in the state of Lincoln. It was recently settled with 1.6 million users getting paid $300 each. That’s $480 million. As much as that is, Facebook operates to the tune of billions of dollars. So that is settlement may not be exactly a chump change but it isn’t breaking the bank either. Will it be enough to send a message that Facebook and others should at least ask permission first? One would hope. After all, how hard would it be to ask? Just tell people what is wanted and why and then they have the option to go along with it or not. These companies need to stop acting like they own everyone’s data.
That’s what makes TARTLE different. When you sign up with us, we don’t own your data, you do. You decide if it gets shared and why it does. You make money from it. It’s so simple, yet basic simplicity and decency are now revolutionary.
What’s your data worth? Sign up and join the TARTLE Marketplace with this link here.
