I expect a commitment to privacy regardless of whether I pay for a net-based service. This is the net-equivalent of being entitled to courtesy and respect when I walk into a brick-and-mortar retail business.

It’s up to the individual user to read those excruciating Privacy Policies before they surrender anything revealing about their identity.

We can’t delegate that responsibility to anyone else even if there are governmental privacy regulations. Laws exist primarily to deter and punish offenders; they don’t actually prevent anyone from breaking the law.

If I’m not comfortable with a website’s posted privacy policy, I either give them clearly-flagged junk data (e.g. “Anonymous User” in Anytown, USA), or go somewhere else. It’s a big web; there are lots of viable alternatives to selling your identity to someone who’s going to abuse that privilege.

Cheers,
Steven