However annoying, advertisements are welcome when offering something you need. Information customization benefits individuals and society as a whole by lowering the costs of services like credit and insurance, and boosting their availability. The family that had to settle for a secured credit card may benefit from probability tables that find them a good credit risk because of job history or other facts. Information sharing expands options and gives people second chances. A reputation that could exclude an individual from service in one setting may be irrelevant in another, or when viewed in context with other Internet-gleaned facts.
Information also expands Internet access itself.
While some pay monthly access fees, others who don't mind supplying information and suffering through a few banner ads can have free Internet access. As businesses respond to consumer preferences, more stringent privacy protections will emerge when desired. Mistakes will be made. But restrictive policies can hinder evolving privacy technologies before they mature, weakening consumers against malicious spies and hackers who take advantage of a false sense of security. And let's not forget that those same governments allegedly eager to protect privacy can be the leading offenders.