I’m Paula Santolaya, reporting live from SANTOLIVE in my virtual reality. Have opinions, or suggestions? Post them in the comments section down below or email me at info@santolive.com.

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch” and it is also applicable to the Internet. Basic Internet activities like checking your email, posting a picture on a social media or buying on line, are not free because we pay for them with our personal data.

This information, apparently no relevant, is a treasure for companies and governments, because they use it to promote their commercial products or influence in electoral campaigns.

Experts estimate that this business model currently means more than 700,000 million euros. But there is also a black market for stolen personal data on the Deep Web: the dark web used by all kinds of criminals to avoid the police. Our personal identification on the Deep web is estimated to cost half a dollar. A great deal for cybercriminals who make huge profits through spoofing our identity, for example.

There are laws to protect the user’s  data, but its compliance is complicated, especially on free online platforms. For this reason, the legislation should now force Internet services to give users the option to freely decide if they want to exchange their personal data or reject ‘cookies’, since through them they obtain people’s profiles. Until then we must be careful when surfing the net, because our personal information is for sale. Let’s not forget that nothing is for free on the Internet.