Yes, we are the product — but what’s the problem?

[Commentary] What is going on these days between some of the world’s largest tech companies and their users is either the biggest bargain of the modern era, or the biggest scam.

It’s true that all the information about me and my social network that these companies have could be used to help insurers and credit-card companies pick customers and price discriminate among them. But they already do that, and do it within the confines of a lot of regulation and consumer protection. I’m just not sure how much “worse” it would get if Google, Facebook and others started piping them our data. Blackmail would be another lucrative future business — I’d be willing to pay a lot not to have my entire search history exposed to the world — but this would turn users, governments, advertisers and lawyers alike against the web companies, so they’re not going to do it.

[McAfee is a principal research scientist at MIT.]