The Gun Counter

So, this has been bugging me for a long time. We are being data mined by every entity on the net and in our personal lives at every opportunity to provide data to the companies providing services/products which they then use for their own research and development or sell outright to a third party. The "vigah" at which this data is being mined and the fact there's nowhere to turn to get away from it makes it instantly pass the sniff test as to whether that data has value.

Since this data is valuable, is solely a product of my making, and absolutely does not exist UNLESS I create it, should I not reap the benefits of it?

Could a person trademark or copyright the data they produce and if not, why not? If we can managed to do this, then make a simple adendum to the T&C, which I believe you can consider accepted if the sale goes through, could you not charge, say, a nickel (nickel being purely pulled out of thin air) per packet?

LG, for instance, has been recently discovered to have their smart TV's sending packets back to LG about what you watch and how long regardless of your turning that feature off or not. The language is buried in terms and conditions and LG's response is "take it up with the retailer you purchased from."

Why, if my data is valuable, should I be the only person NOT to benefit from that value? Thoughts?

I'd say it serves people right for not paying attention and reading 1984.

I think financially, you'd have a more lucrative career developing aftermarket software/hardware fixes that cut the nuts off that LG program, and any others, than you would trying to collect a nickel every time you change a channel.

Do you have a right to a nickel royalty every time your cell phone gets pinged by the network? Even inside malls?
What about when OnStar uploads your entire driving history to GM and its heirs, assigns, and agents (that would include the minority stockholder, also known as .Gov!)? Even if you aren't a subscriber?

This is why when pressed to give out personal info, I volunteer the old phone number for the correct time, and Richard Nixon's SSN.
With electronic crap, you can either not have it, disconnect it, or pull the battery; or else live with the electronic leash, like having a family dog with a cell phone cam pointed at you 24/7/365.

This is a primary reason walkie-talkie-sized combo cell/GPS/WiFi jammers are such a hot-ticket item in Europe and Asia. You can disable the company's GPS minder in your work truck/rental car, and kill Big Brother's electronic snooping in its tracks, at your own convenience. It's a Klingon Cloaking Device for the digital age.

I agree for the most part, except I have no problem with a company tracking its trucks. I cannot see a legitimate reason for an employee to object to that, provided its a fleet vehicle

If it's a company car, that is a different situation.

He'll some companies that by all rights should track their vehicles don't because they don't like spending money.