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The problem is that, on the whole, these companies are

Jan. 19, 2017 by Catherine Pope

The problem is that, on the whole, these companies are well-intentioned. They're not. The email industry and many other privacy and security businesses take no personal responsibility for their user data. In fact, many privacy and security companies take no responsibility at all for the personal information they send to consumers.

But for the companies working to protect their users, there's no more pressing issue—especially in an industry which is heavily focused on data security. According to the World Wide Web Consortium, the average web user uses approximately 18.6 billion web pages a month—a number that's expected to increase with more information about what users use. The data is often shared by companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and eBay. Some companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and eBay have been selling "user data" to other companies that share their data for nefarious purposes, like to sell more and more ads.

Google doesn't disclose its customer data. But, as Diachenko points out, the company is already using its own information to make its ads more appealing. This data is the source of a vast amount of user-generated advertising, which means that marketers will be more inclined to use it if they're able to sell more of the information to the customer. And when the data is shared, marketers will be more likely to offer their users more ads.

That's why so many brands—including Google, Facebook, Twitter, and eBay—are already using the same source of personal data—but they've also been using it to sell more of it. This is especially true when you consider that these firms do not share user data. Instead, they're creating new and unique ways for their customers to find, share and communicate with each other.