Researchers Test Personal Data Market to Find Out How Much Your Information Is Worth
Unsurprisingly, people value certain kinds of information more highly than others. But exactly how they value it depends on a complex set of other factors, such as the conditions under which information was gathered.
The experiment involved a kind of living lab in Italy that monitored people continuously. The team recruited 60 people to take part in the study and gave them each a smart phone that recorded phone calls made and received which applications were in use at any time and the time spent on them, the users’ locations throughout the day and the number of photographs taken.
The results clearly show that some information is more highly valued than others. “We have found that location is the most valued category of personally identifiable information,” say Staiano and co. And participants tended to value processed information more highly as well because of their perception that it gave a greater insight into their lifestyle.
But interestingly personal information becomes even more highly valued in certain circumstances. For example, the study covered two unusual days. The first was a holiday in Italy known as the Immaculate Conception holiday. The second was a day of particularly high winds which caused multiple roadblocks and accidents.
“The median bids for all categories in these two days were significantly higher than for the rest of the days in the study,” say Staiano and co. In other words, participants value their information more highly on days that are unusual compared to typical days.
Another curious finding is that not all participants valued their personal data equally. In fact, people who travel more each day tend to value their personal information more highly.