You Are Being Followed: Simple Things You Can Do To Keep Your Data Private – Private
If you feel like you’re being followed when you’re on the internet, you’re probably not just paranoid. In fact, you are being attacked!
Everything you see and do while online is being tracked and “personalized” (ie, changed without your knowledge!). “But why?” you might ask.
It’s simple, really: a lot of money, let’s call it what it is, can be made by violating your privacy. There are advertising companies and providers of personal data that profit from every piece of information you give them, knowingly or unknowingly! There are companies willing to pay well for all the information they can obtain about their customers.
What can you do to prevent them from snooping? How to keep your private data – private?
Remember: “If you are not paying for a service, you are the product, not the customer.” While you use a “free” product or service, the company providing your product or service for free is busy collecting information about you: your demographics, income, and purchasing habits.
The collected data is then used to identify you as a potential customer and to convince you, and knowing a lot about you, that is being done in the most effective way possible, to buy your other non-free stuff. However, it is simply sold to other companies.
Some people think that it doesn’t matter if their private data is being accessed, because “it’s not that important” and “has nothing to hide.” These people are wrong: your information is much more valuable than they think!
In order to browse in peace, install some kind of privacy plug-in or extension in your browser that prevents websites from transmitting your data to third parties and tracking you across the websites. Almost all browsers today allow you to use some sort of “incognito” or “privacy mode” setting to protect your privacy – explore how that option works in your favorite browser.
Remember to log out each time you finish using a website and clear your cookies after each browsing session. These are just basic, common-sense things you can do to protect your privacy, but they can go a long way.
When a website you’re not sure about asks you for a lot of personal information, you can always provide false information. This will prevent you from being “profiled”. However, if a website doesn’t seem trustworthy, it’s better to just delete your account entirely, or even better not to deal with them in the first place.