A recent study says Americans think Facebook should pay them $3.50 for their data

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Hey America, do you know what your privacy is worth? About $3.50 a month, if a recent study conducted by the Technology Policy Institute (TPI) is to be believed. That’s the amount of money U.S. based users would want to let Facebook share their contact information. That’s a big difference from German users wishing roughly $8 per month.

TPI’s research and development center has been trying to put a dollar value on online privacy and data and surveyed people in six countries to do so. Citizens of the United States, Germany, Mexico, Brazil, Columbia, and Argentina were all asked to put dollar amounts on various levels of access to their data, and the results are interesting.

Unsurprisingly, access to things like bank balance amounts is the most valued at $8.44 per month, with biometric information like fingerprints coming a close second at $7.56. Oh, and location tracking? Nobody seems to care about that, with it coming in last at $1.82 per month. These figures are alarming.

So, why does this study matter to you? I mean, it’s not like the social giant is going to suddenly offer to pay for your data that it’s selling. Well, U.S. lawmakers are working on federal privacy legislation right now, after states like California have already introduced new privacy laws. Studies like this that quantify your privacy as a dollar amount make it easier to draft legislation that is tough enough without being draconian.

Do you think your data is worth more? Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• Pew report shows Americans do not trust Facebook, Google, Twitter for election truths
• Facebook will pay you $5 for your voice recordings instead of just listening in for free
• Facebook is testing some new features on the app to make your News Feed suck less
• Elon Musk wants everyone to know that Facebook is, in fact, lame

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.