WHAT ARE YOU REVEALING ONLINE? MUCH MORE THAN YOU THINK

http://ideas.ted.com/2014/07/01/do-you-know-what-youre-revealing-online-much-more-than-you-think/

Right now in the U.S. it’s essentially the case that when you post information online, you give up control of it.

Some companies may give you that right, but you don’t have a natural, legal right to control your personal data. So if a company decides they want to sell it or market it or release it or change your privacy settings, they can do that.

The point is, we really don’t know how this information will be used. For instance, say I’m a merchant — once I get information about you, I can use this information to try to extract more economic surplus from the transaction. I can price-discriminate you, so that I can get more out of the transaction than you will.

I’m interested in working in this area, not because disclosure is bad — human beings disclose all the time, it’s an innate need as much as privacy is — but because we really don’t know how this information will be used in the long run.