Oh your data is valuable alright, and its gaining value the more of it is harvested, aggregated, enriched and compiled into nice profiles. But you won’t be able to find a buyer for it easily. This because of the entrenched, well established existing market for it, that plays out behind your back.
I agree that Jonathan’s model would be a big improvement, but a lot needs to change on the internet for it to have any real impact (in small initiatives this can already work, but we want the big players to come around too).
The big players have us all locked into their walled gardens, and both the network effect (all my friends are there) and FOMO (fear of missing out) work to keep us there.
I think we can get there with, on one hand, massive public pressure and government regulations, and on other hand changes to the internet to help us, like moving Towards the Vision of The Decentralized Web! and realizing that Privacy is fundamental to Humane Tech (and Democracy)! and act accordingly.
If everyone would install ad blockers and block 3rd-party trackers too, and then also forego visiting sites that complain they cannot show you their content because of that, then it would eventually hurt their bottom line, break their business model, and change can happen.