I didn't buy my copy of Debian, yet they treat me better than many companies I pay.

I pay for cable, yet I still get advertising.

That "not paying means you're the product" is a nice sound bite, but it doesn't actually mean anything.

It seems the "not paying means you're the product" is short for "not paying a for-profit company means you're the product".

I never said that's a bad thing. But at least with the open source software I work with, if you use the software, great. Maybe you will come to me for services later. I wonder how many Debian-involved businesses have such a model.

Paying for media is an interesting exception. Very often for newspapers, etc, you are both buying a product and becoming a product.

But in the end it's a good warning to know the business model of those you get free stuff from.

The tm is "multi-sided market" in the economics literature. We're only beginning to figure them out.