This is a long and detailed article about the process of collecting your data and turning it into money. Most of the data collection involves tracking what you do online, though there is a lottle spying involved as well. The money is made from content. "A publisher's audience is their currency," the site says. "No matter how they make money from content—be it through advertising, paid subscription or syndication, a publisher's core asset is audience and audience data." Give yourself some time to read this one, and take your time - there's a good section on ways to avoid being tracked, and quite a few references to companies and services you may not have seen before - like the Abine Blur service and the Whitepages and Spokeo data broker services. See also: Online data protection 101.