TRUST
Most data reward apps have been slow to take off, however. UBDI is currently revamping its platform to provide its roughly 36,000 members with a better service, said Budzyn.
Launched in 2017, Wibson has about 3,000 users and its app is still only available in its test version, said its CEO Rodrigo Irarrazaval.
Datacoup, a similar app founded in 2012, no longer processes sign-ups on its website and its social media accounts have been inactive for more than a year.
Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at Britain's University of Surrey, said that as new firms with little brand recognition, start-ups face an uphill battle to convince people to trust them with their data.
"The only thing to attract them in is if they are going to think it is worth a substantial amount of money, and I think to honestly convince people of that is going to be difficult," he said.
About half of respondents to a 2019 survey by rights group Amnesty International said they had grown more cautious about sharing personal information online in the wake of recent data handling scandals.
"The introduction of this layer of 'data brokers' does not prevent platforms already collecting and monetizing personal data from continuing to do so," said Tackett of Access Now.
"It provides additional opportunities for failures in anonymization, data breaches, and other privacy risks."
In some jurisdictions like Europe, where personal data is not seen as a type of property that can be sold, the apps could also face some legal hurdles, said Woodward.
Yet, Sweeney of Killi said he was confident more people would eventually join the app - which currently has about one million users - as it gives them a share of the profits of a global market that currently excludes them. "Consumers care about privacy, but they care more about money," he said.
