Should you have to pay for online privacy?
Should you have to pay for online privacy?
Some websites have started introducing paywalls which can be lifted with data rather than cash.
It is an increasingly common message from websites: browse for free - if you allow us to track your data and target you with personalised ads - if you don't, hand over some cash.
The model is known as "consent or pay" and, while it may be becoming increasingly common, questions remain over whether it is ethical or even legal.
The UK data regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched a consultation on the practice - it will report its findings later this year.
"In principle, data protection law does not prohibit business models that involve 'consent or pay,'" the ICO says on its website.
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The question remains: Why should someone pay the cost of providing you a service or hosting a website, if you won't pay with money, your data, or by seeing ads?
They shouldn’t. They should close up shop, GTFO and never speak of it again. The End.
Taken to its logical conclusion, that would mean no more search engines, video or image hosting sites, or actually any websites that aren't tied to a paid service, financed by taxes or donations, or provided by hobbyists as a pastime.
I'm perfectly fine with almost all of the commercial web disappearing, except the stuff that actually justifies a price tag, and it mostly being hobbyist content.
But that's really not the issue. Tracking users across sites should not be legal, and should not be possible to consent to.