But it won’t take hold until we answer a more deeply fundamental question: What are we worth as a whole?

Whatever someone else is willing to pay for it. It's that simple.

Hypothetically, as an employee, I am worth the amount of money I can bring it. It could be calculated by looking at the amount of money I bring in less overhead costs divided by my percentage of the work. If I am a sales rep, it could be calculated when I close a deal (this is actually typical - sales reps get a commission in addition to their (low) base salary. But that has a lot more to do with incentives than anything else.) It could also be calculated by looking at the amount of time/money saved when I do a task instead of my boss. Or even more indirectly as elevating the company's capabilities / brand or providing other non-financial benefits to the company.

In reality, I am worth whatever the company is willing to pay me. Plain and simple. It has very little to do with any other factors. I could work as a web developer doing two $2000 projects a month or a web developer doing two $200,000 projects a month. My salary would be very similar in both cases.

The problem never was that company use our data to make a profit, it's that we did not get our fair share of the money.

If we want to argue "fair share of the money", then I should probably go to my boss right now and let him know that I want a cut of the $1.2m order we closed from Coke because my dedicated and detailed IA/Design mockups got us the order over the other guy. He would laugh in my face. I would laugh at myself. That is ridiculous.

People build companies and exploit resources in whatever way they can to make the company survive. That is how the world works. Some are more exploitative than others. Some just hide the exploitation better. Some use buzzwords instead of "exploit." It's all the same shit.

Whether it's using an employee for his skills, a cow for its milk, or the data of its users, people build companies on resources. It doesn't matter what those resources are and how they affect the company's profits, the person being exploited doesn't get a say after the agreement is made. I have an agreement with my company that I will do X and they will pay me X. If I do X and Y without asking for pay for Y, they still pay me X. But I am allowed to ask for Y, as long as it is before I do it. Otherwise, tough luck. I had agreed to do X and Y for X. My bad.

I pay you. You work. I feed the cow. The cow gives me milk. I give you a service. You give me data.

If you don't get paid, you don't work. If you don't work, you won't be paid. If I don't feed the cow, I don't get milk. If I don't get milk, well I still probably feed the cow because...poor cow. If you don't use a service, I don't use your data. If I don't use your data, you don't use the service.

Is it "right" or "fair"? Meh. I don't know. It's irrelevant. That's the way the fucking world works and you can either get used to it, bitch about it, be an exploiter yourself, or refuse to work / give milk / use the service.

note: The above are my personal thoughts and opinions about this article / companies/ profits/ etc and is spoken about generally and is not related to Hubski at all. Even though I use "I" and "you" above, it was just a style of writing - not literally you and I and our relationship on Hubski.

I don't see Hubski as fitting this description because Hubski is not really a company. The exchange happening on Hubski is: you post and comment, we post and comment. We all enjoy each other's posts and comments. Sometimes we give you features so that you give us praise and so that we can all take part in more thoughtful discussions.

We are currently implementing features to increase privacy and decrease the data we collect/store. We have not shared/sold any information. Not your logins. Not your emails. Not your activity. Not the posts and comments. No direct selling of your data, targeted ad space, or selling of access to you. The only thing we have used you for is entertainment and personal satisfaction. We read posts. We watch discussions grow. We debate. We make friends. We argue heatedly. We learn. And you are doing the same. We are all here for the same reasons. If that changes, a discussion and agreement will take place first.

edit: Pixel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in the Gig Economy post by rooibos brings up some interesting points about individuals, "empowerment", unemployment, wages, and exchanging X for Y in non-traditional ways. Good read.