my nerves are bad to-night

For 50 days, Zannier recorded every website he visited, every chat conversation he had, every mouse movement. He even tracked where he walked and took a picture of himself using his computer every 30 seconds. He’s selling that trove of personal information for $2 a day or $250 for the whole lot.

“In the market, people are making money with my personal data, and as a provocation, I said, ‘OK, I want to try to make money with my own data.’ ”

He’s not expecting any marketers to pay up. This is a thesis project for his New York University grad program. Although, more than 115 people have already bought some of his data .

So, is $2 a good deal? Zannier isn’t sure.

“I don’t know. It just was a random number.”

But Jaron Lanier, the author of Who Owns the Future? says he thinks Zannier is undercharging.  read more

PHOTOGRAPH: Alexandra Auger