Regardless of the application or website used, it is now rare not to have to provide personal data to access content. Email address, preferences, Facebook account or even contact information... How is this personal data used afterwards? Should you be wary? A quick overview of the current context.
Your personal data has more or less value
Today, every downloaded application requests access to the person's address book, photos or even geolocation. While some accesses are necessary for the application to run, others are purely and simply used for data recovery.
But personal data does not necessarily mean equivalent value of this data! And yes, this data has more or less value. The potential of the data is estimated as accurately as possible by each company based on different methods. One of them could be to estimate the loss of earnings in the event of loss of this data.
Besides that, it is important to know that “naked” data, for example, has no value. This is raw information collected without classification or analysis by data analyst ou data scientists. On the other hand, the analysis and cross-referencing of this same data can give rise to the creation of predictive models (based on trends, consumption habits, etc.) allowing better targeting or better profitability for the company. And that is worth its weight in gold!
Personal data for attractive services
Whether it's e-commerce giants like Amazon or smaller pure players, data collection is just as much of an issue. How can it be collected and then used? With the advent of big data, it's no wonder that some players have based their entire model on it.
For example, who hasn't dreamed of getting a cheap technical inspection without any effort? It is now possible to get this famous free technical inspection in exchange for personal data and the downloading of documents relating to your car. A pool of data quickly resold to complementary players in the sector (dealers, etc.) with the agreement of satisfied customers.
A market that is gaining ground
There's no denying that the data market has a bright future ahead of it!
In the United Kingdom, a study carried out by Vodafone (telephone operator) estimated the profit generated by the monetization of data in the economy at 21 billion euros. Just that!
In the United States, too, some companies are already offering subscriptions (equivalent to around twenty euros) to allow their customers to protect their personal data. In both directions, the data market is particularly exploited.
Article updated on November 28, 2018 by Byothe
