You know the story, data is the new oil, Facebook makes its billions by selling our data. We give that data to Facebook for free, we’re all being ripped off and they should be paying us.
Except, except:
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]Lawmakers in the U.K. released about 250 pages of internal Facebook Inc. FB -2.24% emails that they said show how executives, including Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, gave some third-party developers preferred access to user data and contemplated charging developers for data access.[/perfectpullquote]To think about selling data and to sell data are different things. Unless we’re going to be very Catholic about this and insist that you can commit adultery in your own head just by thinking about it. Most of us do wait for the act.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”Like any business, we had many of internal conversations about the various ways we could build a sustainable business model for our platform. But the facts are clear: we’ve never sold people’s data,” the statement said.[/perfectpullquote]They may have thought about it but they didn’t.
So, is this going to change the screams about how they profit from selling data? No, of course not, when did the truth ever become a defence against agitprop? But we might want to stop listening…