In the past, maintaining your privacy merely meant making someone didn’t overhear your conversation at a coffee shop. But nowadays, smartphones & smart everything else make keeping our personal info private more difficult than it should be. Technology spies on us all the time! Here are eleven surprising ways your privacy might be slipping through the cracks right now. You might be surprised to learn how much of your information you’re giving away unwillingly.
Featured Image Credit: HayDmitriy /Depositphotos.com.
Social Media Snooping
You might’ve spoken to a friend about needing a vacation—then suddenly, your social media feeds are flooded with travel deals. It’s not a coincidence. Social media platforms are overeager salespeople, watching what you like, share & talk about to show you ads they think you can’t resist. It feels like a bit too much, honestly!
Smart Home Eavesdropping
Of course, smart home devices are convenient—who doesn’t love telling a speaker to play music or asking what the weather’s like outside? However, the issue is that they’re always listening. They might tell you that it’s to help them respond better but it’s still unsettling to think a gadget is keeping tabs on your conversations.
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Location Tracking
Apps asking for your location are useful when you’re getting directions or looking for the nearest coffee shop. Yet this also means they’re keeping track of where you go & that’s a little creepy. You wouldn’t let someone follow you around with a map taking notes—that’s essentially what’s happening but digitally.
Data Breaches
Hearing about data breaches on the news is becoming as common as hearing about the weather. When companies get hacked, your personal information ends up in the wrong hands. This can include your credit card numbers or addresses. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can do about this as it’s completely up to the companies to have proper security.
Risky Public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi is great when you’re out and don’t have any signal. However, it’s also great for hackers looking to steal private information since most public Wi-Fi lacks any protection. You should always remember that if the Wi-Fi’s free, you might not be the only one excited about it. A good rule of thumb is that if you wouldn’t shout it out loud in a crowded room, don’t send it over public Wi-Fi.
Browser Tracking
Web browsers keep track of everywhere you go online and this helps companies send ads your way. Even if you’re in incognito mode, you’re not completely invisible as they’re still creating a profile of you. Next thing you know, every ad online seems to show you just the thing you were thinking about. It’s the price we pay for the convenience of the internet.
Fitness Tracker TMI
While fitness trackers help us keep up with our health goals, they also collect a lot of personal data. You’re out hitting your 10,000 steps, feeling good about yourself—meanwhile, your fitness tracker is spilling the beans on every heartbeat. Advertisers & even insurance companies love this information because they can target you with more ads.
Email Snooping
If you’re using a free email service then there’s a good chance your emails are being scanned to show you targeted ads. While it’s automated, the idea that an algorithm is sifting through your private conversations isn’t less shifty. It’s the trade-off for not paying for email. But it does make you wonder if anything’s truly private anymore.
Facial Recognition Creep
Facial recognition technology is everywhere—it’ll identify you, track where you go & even analyze your expressions. It doesn’t matter if you’re just trying to catch your flight or buy some groceries because you’re part of a facial recognition database. Who has access to that data? What are they doing with it? It’s scary thinking about it.
Smart TVs That Watch Back
Many smart TVs come with cameras & microphones for voice commands and video calls. However, hackers can use them to monitor what you’re watching—or even listen in. While you’re binge-watching your favorite show, there’s a chance your TV is watching you back, gathering data on your preferences.
Online Game Traps
Any fun online quizzes you do might seem harmless but they usually collect personal data. Answering questions about your preferences or personality will give companies a detailed profile of you. One thing to remember is that if something’s free, then that usually means that you’re the product being sold.
Disclaimer: This list is solely the author’s opinion based on research and publicly available information.
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