How much is an email address worth on the black market?

Due to this post:- http://itaintalwaysmylife.blogspot.com/2011/10/mobile-phones-telcos-customer-loyalty.html and this post http://itaintalwaysmylife.blogspot.com/2011/12/mobile-phones-telcos-customer-loyalty.html I had many people question my demands to be able to sync my personal data (possibly including your data, OFFLINE) My reasons are purely privacy of your data and mine.

I don’t want the world knowing what I’m doing and where I’m going and who’s birthday it is (via my calendar) I don’t want the world to have access to your email address and phone number (via my outlook address book)

In other words, my reluctance to use a phone that requires the transferring of all this information online, (via an email account or similar) before I can download back to the phone is something I refuse to do. PERSONAL SECURITY.

If my email address was hacked (hopefully never) there would be close to $7000 worth of data available for sale on the black market! Did you know you are worth that much?

Depending on who you listen to – your email address ALONE is worth anywhere between $10-$30 depending on what you do, who the address was gained from and what information is attached to that email address! Add to that other personal data of addresses and phone numbers AND BIRTH DATES and that value could triple! That’s JUST IF MY EMAIL address was hacked. Then the documents that you store online (in your email account sent folder), like passports, credit card information etc, that adds hundreds ($100), if not thousands ($1000) to the value of the data stolen.

From Expert Reviews UK http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/gallery/news/1287421/how-much-are-you-worth-to-a-cyber-criminal/153151

From Nucaptcha.com http://www.nucaptcha.com/captcha/how-much-is-your-personal-identity-worth

So are you happy using a HTC Mozart which requires data to be uploaded/synced via a live.com account? Or happy to use iTunes to transfer your data?

Online security has been a big issue recently, not just at the personal level, but at the commercial level, look what happened to Telstra this past weekend, look what happened to Sony and another gaming venues recently. Is anything online ‘safe’ anymore?

Should people be more aware of the information they store online and perhaps reduce/delete unnecessary information? It’s not for me to say, but I prefer to store everything locally and not online, thus my demand to be able sync MY personal information OFFLINE on MY computer and not yours!