It is Free and Always Will Be - Trading Personal Information and Privacy for the Convenience of Online Services

TL;DR

This paper discusses how internet users trade personal data for online convenience, highlighting regulatory gaps and the risk of exploitation without policy changes.

Contribution

It analyzes the imbalance between user privacy and service convenience, emphasizing the need for better regulation and informed consent practices.

Findings

Users frequently sacrifice privacy for convenience

Regulators lack sufficient understanding of data ownership

Without intervention, exploitation will persist

Abstract

Internet users today are constantly giving away their personal information and privacy through social media, tracking cookies, 'free' email, and single sign-on authentication in order to access convenient online services. Unfortunately, the elected officials who are supposed to be regulating these technologies often know less about informed consent and data ownership than the users themselves. This is why without changes, internet users may continue to be exploited by companies offering free and convenient online services.