Digital Smarts - [current-page:title-plain]
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Your personal data is worth money to online data brokers who gather it from the searches you do online, your buying habits and even your marital status. Now several new services are asking why these data brokers should be the only ones making money off of your information. Several new services, such as Datacoup, Handshake and Meeco, are set to launch in the summer of 2015 and all share the same goal: to cut out the data-mining middleman. They each allow users to voluntarily share their personal information with companies — and get paid for it. Each service uses a different model, for example, by paying you to fill out directed surveys or by using a private cloud to store your data and brand preferences in return for a discount at a retailer. Both options let you choose where your information ends up rather than with some unknown and unseen data broker. These new systems offer consumers a sense of empowerment while giving them the opportunity to earn or save some cash. Stay tuned for more on this effort to turn the tables on data brokers who operate with a fundamental lack of transparency.