Mark,
Why would you have to pay the data co-op? The data co-op is offering to
sell you anything.
Andrew
Mark Goodge wrote:
On 09/11/2011 14:44, Andrew Wood wrote:
(Good suggestions re. Ghostly, and the proxy server idea)
Here's a few observations about the behavioural information gathering
which is being undertaken via devices like Facebook Likes and Google
Analytics, etc:
1) Social Research is being undertaken. When we browse websites and this
sequence of visits is recorded (so called behavioural information
gathering) then we're engaged in social research. We don't think of it
like that but it is. You're the subject, and your behaviour is being
researched.
That's fairly common, across a very wide range of scenarios both
offline and online.
2) This social research is work. You are undertaking work. The product
of that work (i.e. your data) is exported to someone else.
You're not undertaking work. Other people are undertaking work by
watching what you do.
3) Someone is making money out of your work, and it's probably not you.
Furthermore, unlike services which are provided in exchange for access
to your data (free email for example) it's not clear that you benefit
directly from the data acquisition. When a website designer includes
Google Analytics code in their site then they benefit from the website
reports generated by Google Analytics. However, there's no direct
benefit to you, although your data is being passed to Google.
The indirect benefit to you is that the website operator can make the
site better, in the knowledge of how people use it.
Technically, the data co-op functions something like this: there is a
proxy server which strips out the Facebook Likes and Google Analytics
code, etc. Members of the data co-op can elect that either: their
behavioural data is not collected, or that data is collected (just like
Facebook and Google collect this data) and sold. The value of the sold
data is then returned to the Co-op, and distributed to the members so
that they keep the profits (or give it to a charity) and indeed, you
could even distribute it like the Co-op's Divi where the more you surf
(and give up data), the more is returned to you.
Any thoughts about this?
As a website operator, I'd block that proxy. I don't pay Google for
the data that I get from Analytics. I'm not going to pay you either.
Mark
_______________________________________________
developers-public mailing list
developers-public@lists.mysociety.org
https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/listinfo/developers-public
Unsubscribe:
https://secure.mysociety.org/admin/lists/mailman/options/developers-public/archive%40mail-archive.com
