Comment by Chris2048

The problem is that some things remain cheap by convention. Once you employ the above logic and show a willingness to pay for things, the rent-seekers will swoop in.

You can't break an imperial stout into parts and charge for each, and natural competition exist in supermarkets and/or even homebrew, limiting how much pubs/bars will charge.

The same is not true for computer service that can very easily become monopolised.

The addendum to "If you aren't paying for the product, you are the product", is "and if you are paying for the product, you are also still the product".