business-model, revenueIf so, how does this work?
##TL;DR Sales prices vary mostly on the extent of data available on a user, and are generally bought to sell you things, although there are more nefarious uses out there. As such, buyers are mostly advertisers or advertising networks.
I run several sites that include the most popular ad network in the world, Google AdSense. In order for Google to advertise the products most likely to be clicked on, it analyses the information on the page, and may track users across many sites. I personally do not sell data as such, but I do receive monetary compensation based on me allowing Google access to users to the extent of, and in the knowledge that, they will collect data. Google will not sell on data, for a variety of legal reasons, but also because it is their most valuable asset.
Websites “sell” to AdSense, and AdSense “sells” the contextualized space to advertisers, who end up knowing nothing about you unless you click through. An Average sale value is around $1 per 1,000 visits, but varies wildly based on context from $0.25 to $5.00. Obviously it is purchased to generate sales leads, in most cases.
You know those checkboxes that read something like this:
Do NOT check this box to not receive updates from certain, carefully selected companies, that we totally didn’t pull out of a hat in a vague effort to get our manager a bigger bonus this year.
Those do sell your data, sometimes. Other times, they keep the data (again, it’s an asset that depreciates in value as it is shared) and just forward on marketing emails for a charge, but often they just outright sell the details.
Again, prices vary wildly, based on category and extent of data. Lists that just have emails are cheap, while lists that include full names and dates of birth are more expensive. They are bought for much the same purpose as marketing.
People that have broken the law to get your data will happily sell your data illegally too. These are often sold for a dirtier form of checkbox marketing, whereby spam emails are sent to generate leads, or for attempts at phising, or in extreme cases fraud.
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