Given that the moral implications and harms are huge
Ethics of big data assignment
Adding a commercial value to these objects only makes the individual now forget the true essence of personal identity and would drive people to work towards making money out of every single thing that they can see or think of. Trading human values for success, power or money has never led to anything good. Wars have been started because some individuals were ready to trade human values for power. Dowry is frowned upon because individuals realize that adding commercial value to marriages not only destroys the sanctity of marriage but also objectifies women to a large extent.
If personal data is allowed to be commercialese, companies would then start paying more for ‘ beautiful’ pictures, pictures of ‘ beautiful’ women, stories of women that have been raped or abused or stories of individuals with varied sexual orientations and all this because ‘ it’ sells. These examples might seem stretched to any but one must realize that this is the precedence we are setting by allowing companies to buy off personal data. Many individuals are always looking for money and they would do anything to get money.