Everyone’s Watching You Online: How to Fight Back is a well-timed post on the week of Black Friday, the kickoff of holiday shopping season, by my Digital Edge Podcast teammate Sharon Nelson.
Just when some of us are beginning to believe that the battle for protecting your privacy online is lost, here is a list of affirmative steps you can take to fight back. This is not quick or easy. You wouldn’t really expect it to be as most internet behemoths’ primary revenue is either using or selling your private information for profit. So they are not going to make it simple to take back your personal information or limit its sharing in the future.
Everyone who uses the internet by now has a creepy story to share about ad placement based on your personal information. Mine was my wife showing me a winter coat she thought I might like on her phone and the same coat showing up in an ad on my phone within minutes, even though we have different carriers. So if you decide you want to fight back, Sharon has the list of tactics and weapons for you.
Sharon’s post was inspired by (and informed by) this great New York Times piece.
UPDATE: It’s not just private companies doing this. The California DMV Is Making $50M a Year Selling Drivers’ Personal Information