Every move you make on the internet is strategically analyzed from beginning to end. Every mouse click, every page browsed, how long you took on each page; all of your actions are being documented and saved as a profile. This is your secret online profile. This secret online profile is being sold by companies to other companies for millions of dollars. Yet, you have no idea that this is happening. You get no consent, you give no permission. Instead, it is implied that all of this data is the company's right, just by you using their services. However, what if 90% of all of the websites you visit in a day, have tiny pieces of these companies? Just about every website has advertising, and nearly half of these ads belong to a single company, Google. The other half are owned by a small handful of companies who all do the same analyzing and selling of your data. Is the analysis of your activities on the internet, without your explicit consent ethical?.
Under Social Contract Theory the companies operate under the impression that by you using their goods and services are reasons enough to track everything you do. If you're on Google, it is logical to assume that they track what searches are being done, this is their data. However, what isn't warranted is that they create profiles specifically about you, with your identity and then sell that information without asking you explicitly. Of course these websites have privacy and terms which you have to read through to find it, but something like this should be front and center. Furthermore, what if you're not using their websites? Any website that has any of their advertisements on them are subject to the same analyzing and selling of your data. You are not agreeing to those terms of services, yet they still do it.
Using Kantian ethical theory, we would have to analyze this situation a bit deeper, because both the companies and the consumer are benefiting from the transaction.
