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Ask Slashdot: Is the Information Asymmetry Between Producers and Consumers Good?

Monday May 6, 2019. 03:41 AM , from Slashdot
dryriver asks a philosophical question:

The producer of a tech product -- thanks to internet data mining -- may know all sorts of things about me, the buyer of a product. Gender, age, income level, education level, profession, geolocation, what I read online, who my social media friends are, what interests me intellectually, which way I swing politically, and more. For a few dollars spent, I am no 'mystery' to the producer of this tech product.

But if I were to ask the producer of the product simple questions like 'How much did the GPU component in this laptop you are selling me cost you?' or 'What portion of the final asking price of this product is profit that goes to you?' I likely wouldn't get an answer. Information asymmetry is at play now -- the producing party in the buying transaction knows far, far more about me than I can possibly know about the producing party. And unlike the producing party, I cannot simply open my wallet and purchase 'data mined information' about the producing party. Company secrets are company secrets. The 'info buying' works in one direction only.

Is it a good thing for consumers that this 'information asymmetry' exists in the first place? That pretty much any tech producer can learn about me with a few bucks spent, but I cannot get simple information like 'How much did the Nvidia 1060 Mobile GPU in this 1,200 Dollar notebook cost the producer'?

Anyone have an answer? Leave your own thoughts in the comments. Is this information asymmetry between producers and consumers good?

Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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