The Privacy Settings Keep Getting Smarter Than the Users
A tech company has discovered the timeless business model of calling a subscription “personalization” until the bill and the data policy start sounding like the same document. Lee Keybum on the cheerful corporate habit of translating user privacy into a menu you didn’t realize had a lock on it.
The newest trick in tech is to make privacy sound like a premium feature, which is a bold move for something users thought was included when they said yes to the app. One day it’s an AI helper; the next, it’s a subscription, a policy update, and a little lecture about “improving your experience,” which is corporate for “please enjoy the machine learning while it learns you.”
That’s the modern deal: companies promise convenience, then quietly reclassify your habits as an asset class. The user gets a smarter feed, a pricier plan, and a privacy page long enough to qualify as light reading for a tax attorney. If that’s innovation, it’s at least honest about the new product: you, but organized for monetization. Share with someone who still thinks “free” is a setting, not a prequel.