The money that Facebook generates with your data every year

Most people (and I don't think it's the only one to think about that) understands that the basic transaction that occurs when you use free online services such as Gmail or Facebook.

They do not work for free: it costs a lot of money, from servers and storage to workers, offices and much more.When you open a free account, you have to accept the terms of use that obviously do not read.And who does it?

These terms normally explain (in a complicated language) that, in exchange for using the service for free, you give permission to the company to sell your data to other companies.That, along with all the ads that reach your email or that appear to the wall of your social networks, is what finances the services.

This data can be things like your name, address, gender, age, marital status.But the data can also refer to your current location, the brand and the model of your device, the time you dedicate to using the service and even much more detailed information.

There are companies that pay a lot of money to know your navigation history, the products you want to buy, where you want to go on vacation and then show you related ads.

Surely none of that will be a novelty for you.It is looking for a couple of shoes online and at the moment you get an advertisement on Facebook of those same shoes.

What you probably don't know is how much your data is worth.The lethalone data privacy company ensures that people live happily without knowing that Facebook, for example, earns up to 900 dollars (€ 808) with the sale of each user's personal information to other companies.

Last week, he conducted a survey with 1.000 adult Facebook users in the United Kingdom and concluded that, on average, they would only ask for 250 pounds (€ 300) a year for that data.But obviously, they are giving them free.

The investigation concluded that more than half of the participants (57 %) were surprised and angered that their data were shared without their permission, and 40 % were enraged to know that Facebook (and other platforms) could sell information as whereThey live or where they work.

The truth is that they have given permission, even if they did without realizing.That is why it is important to read before you agree when you open an account.

With more than 20 million users, Facebook generates about 18.000 million dollars (about 16.166 million euros) a year only of its users in Spain.

But emerging companies like lethalone are appearing with the promise to help you control what happens to your data and how to get a part of the benefits.

That does not help you with Facebook or with any account you have already created, because you have already given permission to give your data.It is practically impossible to eliminate that data and all you can do is close your account and stop using the service in question.

Privacy and safety software such as a VPN or an antivirus either help.When you log in to Facebook, the VPN do not make you anonymous: you are telling Facebook exactly who you are.

And even if you do not log in, dactyloscopic techniques are used (using a lot of information mentioned above as the iPhone model you use and many data offered by your browser, such as screen size and resolution) to identify yourself with respect to any other user, whatwhich means that your activity can also link yourself and the resulting data are sold.

Lethalone believes that all this should change and that users should be able to see what information a company has and should be able to choose whether they want to sell or not.And if yes, they should make money with it.

Laws such as GDPR and California CCPA already help ensure that the data is managed and used correctly, but that is no guarantee that your data will remain private.

Ya hay una larga lista de compañías que han sido multadas por no cumplir esas leyes, como por ejemplo la multa de 50 millones de euros a Google (al no hacer la información sobre el procesamiento de datos fácilmente accesible), la de 32 millones de euros a H&M (que monitorizaba los trabajadores de forma secreta), la de 20 millones de euros a British Airways (por una brecha de datos de 400.000 users) and that of more than 18 million euros to Marriott Hotels (for another gap due to a hacking).

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Original article published in Tech Advisor.