If something is free online, you are not the customer, you are the product.65 Facebook’s and Google’s business models are built on the commodification of personal data, transforming through the alchemy of a two-sided market our friendships, interests, beliefs and preferences into sellable propositions. The so-called ‘sharing economy’ is based on the same idea. For all the hype about ‘sharing’, it is less about altruism and more about allowing market exchange to reach into areas of our lives – our homes, our vehicles, even our private relationships – that were previously beyond its scope and to
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