Data
Explanation
This four-panel comic features a person holding a "Free Hugs" sign. In the first panel, someone approaches offering free hugs. In the second panel, they embrace. In the third panel, the hugger reveals they are "documenting your private medical data for sale to third parties." When the hugged person objects, saying "I thought the hugs were free," the hugger replies: "Did you see any money change hands?"
The comic is a satire of how tech companies and apps collect personal data. The "Free Hugs" scenario is an analogy for free online services (social media, apps, etc.) that appear to cost nothing but actually profit by harvesting and selling users' private data. The punchline -- "Did you see any money change hands?" -- mirrors the common defense that because users don't pay money for these services, they shouldn't complain, while ignoring that the users' data is the real product being traded. The "medical data" detail makes the privacy violation feel especially invasive, paralleling real concerns about health apps and wearables selling sensitive biometric information.