Not Minding Your Privacy? This Company Pays You Rs 1,31,327 To Film You 24/7

If automatic does develop as some people predict, many people are going to lose their jobs. Some researchers have made a proposal for using what is called a universal basic income. Each member of the society can receive a sum of money to ensure that they can still buy the things that they need to survive. And some might even agree to sell their privacy for some money.

A new social experiment was carried out to find out whether the unemployed would agree to sell their privacy for money. The results indicated that some might be. The current rate is around $1,830 or Rs 1,31,327 per month.

The name of the experiment is Project Exograph and the one behind it is Japan-based Plasma Inc. The goal of the company is to promote society further with science and technology while making a contribution to humankind’s well-being.

For this experiment, Plasma received the consent of four people to install cameras around their homes, except for their bathrooms. In the next month, what these participants do in their houses will then be recorded. In exchange, the company will give each of them 200,000 yen, around $1,830 or Rs 1,31,327. The amount of money is around 50 percent higher than what they would receive under subsistence-level welfare payments.

Once the month ends, the footage will be anonymized so that no one can identify the participants. It will then discuss with companies and experts how they could monetize the footage. However, thankfully, the company won’t actually sell these clips.

The idea behind this is that people’s digital data is already for sale, so Plasma Inc. wants to explore the market for the real-life data of a person. Especially when it could be possible in the future, not many people could exchange their labor for money.

Hiroko Enno, CEO of Plasma Inc., said in an interview with The Mainichi:

Of course, while Plasma is paying people in exchange for their personal data, it doesn’t mean other companies would do the same.

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