So apparently Twitter is about to turn all wallstreet on us and this means that they will be the new insidious threat to our online privacy, because they have this enhanced tracking power built into their platform that will allow really, really targeted ads to be sent to people across their multiple devices. Or so sez Mother Jones. This has different people in a flutter because it will be even worse than what facebook or google does.
I don't worry a lot about this. I mean, I stay informed and I regularly go into my FB settings to make sure as many "private" tick boxes are ticked. But I'm not exactly cowering in fear. Why?
Because judging from the hilarious offers and ads that pop up on FB and during my internet browsing, the Internets have no clue at all as to what I want and what I might buy.
Examples: while reading an atheist blog, I get ads offering me to meet Christian singles. I read American liberal political blogs, and ads for donating to the Republican party appear in the banner. The BBC News website streams commercials for Jaguar Canada to me (not in the market for a car, let alone a Jaguar). I could list more, but you get the big picture. Not only are the ads not within my sphere of interests, but they are often at the polar opposite of my tastes and leanings and with the content of the website I am visiting.
This is not the result of me making extraordinary efforts to hide from data collectors. My cookies are enabled and I have very basic firewall and anti-virus thingies on my 'puter. I shop online occasionally.
But I think I stay off of the radars and confound the ad-generators mostly because I used this seemingly antiquated and apparently little known approach to using the Internet. It's called "discretion" (she says as she posts a very public blog...). No, I'm not trying to be ironic.
I am relatively discreet when it comes to my internet use, especially with the social network platforms. Here's what I don't do that I think has helped me feel that my privacy is a little more private than other internet users:
1) No third-party app access to my FB account. I play Bejeweled Blitz and Candy Crush and whatnot. I do not use Game Center nor do I allow these games to access my FB profile. What I play and what my score was last night is nobody else's business (and I don't fucking give a flying fuck about your score or your fake farm animal either). But more importantly, I don't think my FB account and FB 'friends' are Game Center's, Apple's or any game-maker's business. So, no, I won't use the Birthday App on FB either, no matter how many times I am invited to do so.
2) No 'Liking' of companies on FB nor any mention of them on Twitter. Ever. I really do not like a capitalist profit-seeker enough to give that entity access to my information or 'friends'. The less they know about me, the better. (One exception: I 'liked' Oreo's page when they issued the rainbow Oreo picture in support of equal rights.)
3) I have accounts on FB, Twitter and Pinterest but use them discreetly. I don't link those accounts together so that these guys can gang up on me and I am mostly a lurker on these platforms. I avoid oversharing and I do not allow my smart phone to automatically announce to the world that I'm at this mall or that airport. I do not allow my phone to geotag my pictures. I don't post pictures of the food I'm having at the restaurant. I don't post pictures during my vacation as an advertisement for burglars to come break into my house. See, I just don't think any of those things are :
a) crucial for me to share nor crucial for anyone to know
2) anyone's business
iii) especially a third-party capitalist's business
4) I don't leave my email address to retailers at the cash when they ask me for it. I do not accept the 3 thousand credit card offers that the cashiers or junkmailers offer me. I have very few fidelity cards and will most likely get rid of some that I do have because I never use the points and all I get out of the deal is more spam in my inbox.
5) I log out of Twitter and FB on my smartphone and tablet when I am out and about and rarely (if ever) use their Apps. I use both on my browser and make sure to log out when I'm done.
And so I don't really worry all too much about being tracked or targeted by retailers and social networks who want to sell my info to said retailers because without being obsessive about it, I limit access to those types of people when it comes to me and my accounts.
Am I totally safe and anonymous and hack-proof? Not by a long shot. But I think my refusal to blindly link accounts and platforms together and to announce every detail about myself online has already proven to me that the trackers have a hard time tracking me. Because, c'mon, christian singles for a married atheist on an atheist blog? You can't get more off-base than that!
So if you find that the banners and pop-ups and FB ads are eerily accurate and pertinent to your habits and preferences, it's only because you let them find out all that stuff about you, in the end.
No comments:
Post a Comment