Reply to comment

A rather bizarre article talking about new companies hoping to capitalize on people's concern over privacy in social media (or the lack of it). Basically, these are companies that are offering to help people own their data--even though it certainly looks like they'll be owning the platform. Here's a sample:

Michael Fertik, Reputation's CEO, says rising concerns about privacy online have created a demand among people to be given control of their data. "We think there is a coming privacy economy," he said.

That premise is about to be tested. A host of startups from Silicon Valley to Washington, D.C., are rushing to market with an array of online products that let individual users control or manipulate their personal data. Meanwhile, the Personal Data Ecosystem Consortium, a Silicon Valley trade group founded in October, is working to nurture a food chain of Internet businesses that would embrace the premise that individuals should control their own data.

Consider Personal, a startup slated to go live this summer that will offer a service to help people make money from their personal data. Rather than allow an online ad company to track people as they search for digital cameras online, and then serve up camera ads as they visit other websites, Personal would act as a data agent, allowing users, in effect, to hoist a flag saying, "I'm in Peoria; I want a camera that does this, and I'd pay that for it. Show me some ads!"

Personal CEO Shane Green said a person choosing to make specific data, such as favorite brands or their interests, available to advertisers could someday get 5 to 15 percent of a purchase price back in an ensuing transaction. Personal would earn revenue by taking a cut of that rebate.

"We felt like there was a huge opportunity to turn the consumer model upside-down -- to help people manage, create and grant access to the best data about themselves," Green said....