Busting the Myth that Web Sites ‘Sell Your Data’

On TLF, Berin Szoka comes up just shy of ranting, but it’s a good rant against the myth that Web sites like Facebook sell or give your data to advertisers.


In targeted online advertising, the business model is generally to sell advertisers access to people based on their demographics. It is not to sell individuals’ personal and contact info. Doing the latter would undercut the advertising business model and the profitability of the web sites carrying the advertising.


I did some myth‐​busting of my own last year when the Wall Street Journal published erroneous information about a health‐​interest site called RealAge​.com, which does not give or sell visitors’ data to drug companies.


Understanding how technologies and business models work is job one for crafting good public policies, but as I noted yesterday…