The market for our digital data can seem like a lopsided bargain.

We all create valuable data points with every tap on a screen or keystroke — clicks, searches, likes, posts, purchases and more. We hand it over willingly for free services. But the biggest economic windfall goes to the tech giants like Google and Facebook. Their corporate wealth is built on harvesting and commercializing the information supplied by the online multitudes.

“Imagine if General Motors did not pay for its steel, rubber or glass — its inputs,” said Robert J. Shapiro, an economist who recently did an analysis of the value of data. “That’s what it’s like for the big internet companies. It’s a sweet deal.”

But there is a growing collection of people seeking ways to alter that arrangement. As a disparate group of academics, economists, technologists and lawmakers, their politics range from moderately liberal to free-market conservative.

They are pursuing different paths. Some have done research to put a value on personal data, as a way to inform public debate on how to broker a better deal for the online proletariat. Others propose recognizing the data as a tradable asset or as labor, to help create an efficient market for the data and return more digital wealth to individuals and society.