Does paying for a service help keep my data private? For example, if I'm a paid user at Linkedin - does that mean they would treat my data differently than that of the free users?
No. It used to be that you didn't get ads on cable TV because you already paid for the channels. Then the ads came anyway. Just because you pay for an internet service doesn't mean you avoided the privacy concerns that plague free services. At best you just postponed them.
Agreed. Exactly my problem with the catch all argument that all these concerns will go away if we buy the service.