Ever wonder what your online privacy is worth to companies like Yahoo? It seems it’s about $40 according to the price list leaked to the whistleblower site Cryptome as described in Wired’s Threat Level blog.

What level of privacy should you expect when using the World Wide Web? Not very much. What sites you visit, what you search for and what email you send and receive is fair game for both business and government. We literally pay for new technologies with our privacy as companies sell our online habits and histories. Think that Twitter and Facebook don’t have a revenue plan? Think again.

However there are groups that are working to improve things.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a suit to find out how government agencies are using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook for investigations, data-collection, and surveillance. Not to stop the agencies, just to find out what they are doing.

The ACLU of CA are promoting a dotRights campaign to demand action from Congress and the Obama Administration to augment privacy oversight against expanding government powers over the data collection tools of new technologies.

Here at Cocoon we believe your data is yours, and not ours.  We understand that everyone has the right to privacy, whether it is online or off.  Your data should not be freely collected and sold by businesses.  If a government agency wants your data, then a judge should be convinced to approve a warrant for it to be obtained, just as it says in the Fourth Amendment.

The online world offers a wealth of information and services, but you shouldn’t have to pay for them with your privacy. Cocoon will soon offer an affordable way so you won’t have to.