This is so wrong. Facebook, Google and others simply appropriate highly detailed, highly personal information about us without any action that could reasonably be called notice or permission. We need a federal law requiring that they ask first and offer to pay for it if need be.
And don’t be confused by the argument that you’re getting a “free” service in exchange for watching ads, like old-style TV or print. That would be a fair deal. It’s the secretive profiling, all over the Web, that must be banned. User permission & compensation should be required.
In other words, your private information should be viewed as private property, which you can sell, rent, or give away, if asked. In the U.S., we have 200 years of legal precedents on private property. Your data should be covered by those precedents.
I should add that, just as with other private property, you could outright decline to allow it to be used or transferred.
