You're not the customer, you're the product.

A colleague brought to my attention today a short blog on how to get the most out of cheap cell service. The blog is posted on a respected and popular tech journalist site, so their opinion carries considerable weight.

The gist of the blog was that a "savvy" consumer could stretch an otherwise-limited cellphone contract by using free apps and exploiting contract features that were unintended. Namely, using free VoIP apps to make voice calls that circumvent the limited calling minutes of the cheap plan by using "unlimited" data.

But are they really counting on the "customer" being savvy, or just cheap? Or lazy?

The article highlights the use of free apps like Talk-A-Tone. Talk-A-Tone is essentially an overlay app that taps into other VoIP services like Google Voice. The interface of Talk-A-Tone allows the user to create an account and pull in contacts from a variety of sources like Google and Facebook. That way the user has one common address book. Sounds good, right?

Not so fast.

The author of the blog probably feels pretty smug offering readers a way to loop-hole a limited but cheap cellphone plan. But what's really being sold here?

You. You're being sold. And so am I.

Facebook is selling you, too. So is Google. And so is Apple. So is Talk-A-Tone, and other similar "free" app developers.

Don't believe for a moment that app, device and system developers are somehow charitable organizations and don't require food, housing or hipster messenger bags. Quite the contrary. They get paid, for sure. Just not by you.

Ask a cow, hog or chicken how much they pay to stay in the barn. While you're at it ask how much they pay for feed. They don't pay because they aren't the customer. They're the product being sold.

Not to pick on anyone but for the sake of ease I'll highlight some of the verbiage clearly and openly available in Talk-A-Tone's privacy policy:

• “We receive and store any information you enter on our Website, send to us through the Service or via email or SMS, or provide to us in any other way.” - They gather, store and analyze every number, every call, every contact, every email and every text message to their benefit.

• “Personal Information collected may include your full name, email address, mobile phone number, and any other information necessary for us to provide our services.” - Ditto. Ever wonder how those "Know who's calling you" apps work?

• “Company automatically receives and records information on our server logs from your browser including your IP address, browser and OS information, cookie data (if applicable), and the page or resource you requested.” - They track your internet activity. All of it. Always.

• “…our service automatically collects usage information…”  - Ditto

• “As part of this use of information, we may provide aggregate information to our partners”  - And they share all the data they collect as they see fit.

• “We share this type of statistical data so that our partners also understand how often people use the Service or Website” - See what I mean?

• “Each iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad has a Unique Device Identifier (UDID)” 
• “We may collect device UDID” - Why is this bad? Read here. 

• “Ads appearing through the Service may be delivered to users by our advertising partners, who may check UDID.”  - Ditto: bad, bad news for you. And if that isn't bad enough...

• “UDID allow the ad provider to recognize your device each time they send you an advertisement to compile information about you.” - Wha??

• “Personal Information about our customers is an integral part of our business.“ - Right, because we are the product, not the customer.

• “We anticipate that we may become affiliated with a variety of businesses and work closely with them.” - Fasten your seat belts...

• “In some cases, we may choose to buy or sell assets. In these types of transactions, customer information is typically one of the business assets that are transferred.” - BAM! They sell all that data they've collected on you, all your activity, all your browsing, contacts, contact information and history...to whomever offers them money, for any reason they deem worthy.

When it comes to free apps and services - Remember, if you're not paying, you're not the customer. You're the product!

I highly encourage you to read the privacy policies of all the sites, services and apps that you use and interact with. Make educated decisions on what apps to install and what services to utilize. Always check privacy and security controls and adjust them to their minimum exposure. Make sure you recheck often as site, service, network and app authors can and DO change policies at any time.