Over the past few weeks, I’ve begun to notice the return of the online privacy and use of personal data debate, seemingly provoked, at least in part, by Facebook’s IPO filing and Google’s very public revision of their privacy policy. Although most of the coverage still seems mired in addressing the “invasion of privacy” aspects of the discourse, some pundits have alluded to what I believe is the more interesting question – is the online exchange of my personal data a fair and just marketplace, where dollars are effectively allocated in accordance to value creation? That is to say, if you accept the premise that the vast majority of online content is supported by advertising, and in turn, data about consumers of that content, then the next question becomes: who is making what from my data, and am I, the user, fairly compensated for providing the raw inputs? Read the rest of this entry »