Most online services (Google, Facebook etc.) operate by providing a service users for free, and in return they collect and monetize personal information(PI) of the users. This operational model is inherently economic, as the "good" traded and monetized is PI. This model is coming under increased scrutiny online services are moving to capture more PI of users, raising serious concerns. However, little is known on how users valuate different types PI while being online, as well as the perceptions of users with regards to of their PI by online service providers. In this paper, we study how users valuate different types of PI while being, while capturing the context by relying on Experience Sampling. We were to extract the monetary value that 168 participants put on different of PI. We find that users value their PI related to their offline more (3 times) than their browsing behavior. Users also value pertaining to financial transactions and social network more than activities like search and shopping. We also found that users are overwhelmingly in favor of exchanging their PI in return for online services, they are uncomfortable if these same providers their PI.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Carrascal et al. (2011) studied this question.