The uproar over Unroll.me selling user data to Uber shows most people don't understand ad-based business models

[Commentary] This week saw a furor surrounding Unroll.me, a service that offers to unsubscribe users from unwanted e-mails, but which apparently sold user data to Uber in the past in a way that wasn’t transparent to users. CEO Jojo Hedaya said it was “heartbreaking” to learn that some customers didn’t understand how the company monetizes its free service. The reaction to the revelations was predictable: Some decried all ad-based business models, using cliches like, “if you’re not paying, you’re the product,” while others said users were naive for imagining a free service wasn’t monetizing their data in some way. Every time I see this happen, I wish we could get beyond the simplistic painting of all ad-based services with the same brush, and have a more nuanced conversation about ad-based business models.

[Jan Dawson is founder and chief analyst at Jackdaw]