Data for sale - with or without your consent

Many consumers do not realise the value of their personal data, and policies to protect them are not keeping pace with the growth of data collection and sales.

Even those who refuse to surrender data cannot evade the pitfalls, especially when so many of their friends and other users share.
PHOTO: AFP

East Lansing

THE scandal involving Facebook and datamining company Cambridge Analytica dramatically confirms the old adage of "no free lunch". Facebook's more than 2 billion users are waking up to the fact that the "free" online site, part of their daily routine, extracted a stiff price: