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The theory behind "if you're not paying for the product..." is that old economist's saw: "incentives matter." Companies that monetize attention are incentivized to manipulate and spy on you, while companies that *you* pay just want to make you happy.

This is a theory of corporate behavior grounded in economics, not power, a creature of theory and doctrine that never bothers to check in with the real world to see how that theory and doctrine map to actual events. Reality is a lot uglier.

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