If you're not paying then you're the product!

What on earth does that mean?

These days there's a lot of stuff, especially on the Internet, that is "Free". Of course, as anyone with an IQ in double figures will realise, they're not "free" at all. Someone, somewhere, is paying something, even if it's only the electricity to run a server.

There is, as the great man famously said, no such thing as a free lunch.

How does this fit in with this article? And how does that explain the headline?

Well, it's like this.

When you take advantage of a "free" product you have to give something back. Just because you're not handing over money, don't think you're not paying. Now, until recently, what you gave back was your email address (and permission for them to use it in whatever way they saw fit). This is straight-forward advertising, and you shouldn't be surprised if you start receiving email adverts from all and sundry. It's the price you have paid for the "free" software.

Now, however, technology is moving things onto another level. I recently blogged on the privacy implications of voice control of smart TVs. And this is another, even subtler, system along similar lines. It's really important, so I make no apology for going over the same ground twice.

Google have a service that stores all of your photos online. Very handy that. What you may not know is that Google deploy very sophisticated image recognition systems to process these images. This is a fantastic tool. For instance you can search your image collection for "peacock 1997" and it will find pictures you have taken of peacocks around 1997. Just to be clear - you didn't have to tag your photo as "peacock" - the system scanned the photo as you uploaded it, and decided it was a picture of a peacock. And catalogued it for future use. What's more, if you took the photo with an Android device, the image will be tagged with the time, date & GPS location - even the altitude & direction the camera was pointing.

So, let's look at your life again, shall we? 

1. PayPal has a log of most of the stuff you have purchased, where you bought it, how much it cost, and where it was delivered.
2. Amazon & eBay have a log of all the stuff you have purchased from them, and all the stuff you have viewed.
3. Facebook (other social media sites are available!) have a complete breakdown of your social network, interests & other interactions.
4. Google Locate can tell you (or anyone with access to your account) where you were (or, at least, where your Android phone was) every minute of every day since you purchased it.
5. Your SmartTV provider (or voice activated search on your phone) has a recording of everything your (or your family) have said.
6. Google photo has a record of everything you've ever photographed.

And all of this is searchable & exploitable at any time, by anyone. Because you signed away all your rights when you clicked "Agree" to the T&C as you accessed your "free" service.

At least your thoughts are - for the time being at least - your own. Until we're offered 'thought control' TVs. Don't think they're not coming.

So, if you're not paying, you're the product. Because all this data is immensely valuable to the right people. And by selling your data they are, in effect, selling you. You're the product. You have been bought - and are about to be sold.

Sleep well.