Grand pronouncements about the internet are usually quite naff. “If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product” seemed deep when it first got bandied around, then quickly became overused and quite glib.
We weren’t stupid: we knew that, say, Facebook was selling some of our data to brands and whoever else had deep enough pockets. We’d just decided it was something we could live with if it meant we could keep in touch with all our friends and acquaintances in one place, for free. It felt like a straightforward trade-off. Oh, those halcyon days.
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