We are constantly handing out data for free. We do it through nearly everything we do in the modern digital age. Every time we use our phones for something, whether it’s looking up directions, getting on Twitter or ordering something from Amazon, we are giving our data to at least one major corporation, maybe more. At TARTLE we very much want for people to be fully aware of how that is happening and how you can help prevent it.
One of the main ways you give your data to companies is through the use of free websites. Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, etc all rely on you putting your data out there so they can sell it to others. Anything you put on those sites, from your location, your education, pictures of your family, are considered fair game and the cost of using that site. Ask yourself, since the site isn’t selling you something and they keep operating, how are they doing that? How are they making money? They do it by selling you, you are the product.
One of the ways they do that is through all the ads they are filling your feed with. Doesn’t it seem like you can’t scroll more than a few seconds without coming across an ad? That’s because they are and the more you interact with those ads, the more they are tailored to you. If there are particular images or phrases that get your attention, the algorithms pick up on it and adjust accordingly.
Have you noticed all those polls online? Especially those standing between you and the rest of an article you were reading? They are collecting data on all your preferences, learning what kind of person likes to read that kind of article and what sort of information you like to read and will feed you more of it.
Of course, it gets even more granular. Many sites will go so far as to track how your mouse moves around the screen and pay attention to which web designs you spend more time around, allowing them to better tailor things to you. This goes as deep as adjusting the color layout of some ads to something that you tend to interact with more. Even a preference for dark mode is recorded and used to inform the almighty algorithm.
If you spend any time at all on YouTube, you know the amount of time spent watching a video matters, not to mention your likes and shares. If you doubt it, change what you watch for a couple of days. Your feed will change dramatically to the point you might need to specifically search for the channels you were watching before the experiment because they just don’t show up anymore.
All of those customer service surveys, whether on a phone call or on a given website all feed into the algorithms. Anything that can be customized to get you to spend more time and money on particular sites will be used to do so.
Do your devices listen to you? Oh, definitely. Just recently, I’ve been talking about plans for hiking the southern part of the Appalachian Trail this year, specifically mentioning the approach trail a few times. Wouldn’t you know it, articles on the approach trail started showing up in my Google Newsfeed. There are plenty of similar stories out there, and of course, you should feel free to conduct your own experiments.
So, how does someone protect themselves from all of this data acquisition and tracking? How do we stop these corporations from using all of this information to squeeze us into a little demographic box? There are a few steps you can take. One is to use a browser like Brave or Firefox that will block a lot of that tracking software. Another is to get a VPN, allowing you to hide your IP address. Finally, you can sign up with TARTLE and sync your accounts with us so that you can control when, where, how often and why your data is getting shared. That way only you can decide if anyone gets to know anything about you and if you do want to share, you can share things you really care about. And that’s worth a lot.
What’s your data worth?
