How much does it cost to keep your information from prying eyes? Julia Angwin, ProPublica reporter and author of “Dragnet Nation: A Quest for Privacy, Security, and Freedom in a World of Relentless Surveillance,” shelled out nearly $2,500 to protect her data. From the encrypted cloud service to the burner laptop, she found that privacy really is a luxury good. 

“People who are like me, tech elites basically, are going to get these sophisticated tools to really carefully manage our data. But the group of people who aren’t empowered, don’t have time or money to have these tools are going to be on what I call a giant suckers’ list,” Angwin said. 

A wealth gap in the world of privacy could mean a very different online reality depending on your income.

According to Angwin, websites will soon dynamically create themselves based on your data, determining what product options are available to you.