Last time, we talked a bit about how corporations are getting your data for free. They pay attention to everything, what you say, how long your mouse lingers over an ad, what videos you like, etc. In many ways, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The data companies are always with you, tracking everything at every opportunity.
Why? After all, it takes a lot of time and resources to get all of that information. However, they are getting a hefty return on investment. How so? One is that they sell all of that data to third parties who are interested in using it for their own purposes, whether it is product development, market research, exploring policy outcomes and more. The other is that in tracking all of this information about you, they are able to zero in on all the best ways to get you to spend your money. You might be thinking “but I never fall for any of that”. Maybe not, but plenty of people must be falling for it in order for all those companies to keep working on collecting your data. It’s all directed to getting you to spend more time on a given website, increasing the chances that you’ll see an ad you like and click on it. That’s why so many social media professionals have come out and said they don’t let their own kids use the sites they used to work for. Those professionals know firsthand how their former employers will manipulate people into the behaviors they want and how harmful that can be.
Don’t forget to keep this thought in mind as well, what are you getting for giving these companies all of your data? A few likes? Possibly a friend or two that could completely disappear without you knowing why? The ego boost of people reacting to your post? That’s not a lot when you consider everything you are giving up.
One big factor used by all of these companies that we haven’t talked about is your location. Thanks to all of the smart devices out there, it is very easy to keep track of where almost everyone is. They don’t just use your phone either. There are smartwatches, Fitbits, GPS-enabled cars and who knows what else. Even if you leave all of that at home, there is still your credit card. Every purchase you make with one of those is recorded and tracked somewhere. To be completely free from anyone tracking your movements you have to live like it’s the 1980s; no cell phone, no GPS, and pay cash for everything. Needless to say, all of that is becoming increasingly difficult.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not really a big fan of these companies tracking so much about me. Especially my location. At the very least we should be able to move around without Apple knowing where I went for lunch and how fast I drove to get there. It’s bad enough that the government can do it, I don’t think we need Silicon Valley in on it as well. Especially if Silicon Valley and the government were to work together on tracking and categorizing citizens.
All of these things we’ve talked about are great reasons to start paying attention and taking back control of your data. Signing up with TARTLE will give you the ability to do exactly that. You can sync your accounts with us and funnel your data into our secure servers to be shared out only on your say so, rather than having it constantly skimmed by data aggregators. Go to tartle.co and sign up. In just a few minutes you’ll be on your way being in control of your data and your digital life.
What’s your data worth?
