You Should Be Way More Mad About Your Data
Your Data Is Under Attack….
You may have heard this already , if not let this be your lesson for today.
I am still learning so before beginning please remember to always do your own research as these are my own findings.
LETS BEGIN!
What Is Data?
What Are Cookies?
Who Has Your Data?
What You Can Do?
Why You Should Care?
Data is the input of information. Data is not a new thing and it doesn’t need the internet to survive.
Humans have always used data ( input of information) to help solve problems .
Without data there is no internet.
The issue is not the data…. It is the person who has it and their intentions.
We’ll go into more detail later.
Cookies is data being stored and remembered by a source to identify you.
For example , Its like the secrets that you know about yourself but can be exposed to the public and used for corperate gain.
Initially you may think this is bad but without cookies the internet would not be able to store data or identify who you are .
Later I’ll tell you what companies do with your cookies.
Who Has Your Data… anyplace you visit online has your data. Think of it as visiting a store in person and signing up for email promotions or buying merchandise with your debit/credit card. Visiting a website is no different except you don’t have to purchase anything for your data to be public. Below I will list the things websites can do and see from you visiting .
IP Adress , which is the location of your device and what type of device you are using
Eye Tracking , which tells them how long you stay on the website (Bounce rate) and what you looked at the most.
Tracking Pixels , these are photos that have links to them and can track your data on all websites you visit. ( Usually you click them by mistake because they place them in areas users click the most)
Card information if you choose to purchase something your card will be stored.
There are more things but for sake of time we’ll stop there…
What Can You Do… before we get into that lets go back to cookies.
Cookies are important to these websites because it allows websites to turn you from a guest to a user.
Think about it this way… when checking out at a physical store you can checkout with cash and decide to leave no digital footprint. By using your card or signing up for a program you would be leaving a digital footprint. Online is the exact same way except it is a lot harder to not accept some cookies (digital footprint) .
The reason why cookies are sometimes necessary is because it allows a website to remember you. If you are not remembered your data will not be stored. In some cases websites will not let you use their services without signing into a portal . Which is another way of saying give me your cookies or else you have to go elsewhere.
Now what can you do …. first read the terms and conditions on such cookies. Cookies will give you the option to toggle off and on especially if they are part of the Digital Advertising Association (DAA) which most companies are a member. Read and understand what the cookies are doing because if not you have agreed to its terms . Most times these websites are connected to 3rd party sign in such as Facebook or Google which means you are not only sharing your data with the website you are visiting but also the third party sign in.
Lastly you can request your data from most sites. For instance there is a dating app called Hinge, I requested my data and they informed me of every message I have ever sent. Now think about that, they collect all the messages, review them and send them to companies with the purpose of selling us stuff. While looking at my data I found that they were sharing my data with over 20 different countries. That is insane!
Why Should You Care… Trust me I get it , There is a lot of things to care about these days but what I am about to tell you can save your money and your mental health. Do you ever wonder how certain ads reach you ?
All members of the DAA are using (YourAdChoices). Which is a self regulatory program trained to track and learn what you like and dislike. They do this by tracking your cookies across all your devices and websites you visit. In plain english that means if you text your friend about going to Italy you will see Italy ads soon after. Now , you may not see the problem but that is exactly why they can price gounge you. They know when you want to eat, travel and explore an area so they can raise the price on your devices without you knowing.
You may be asking…. how is this legal?
Well….as long as they are following the 7 principles of the DAA Self Regulatory its “legal”. Which means they can run interest based ads on you depending on which cookies you allow. Once again remember some cookies you cannot opt out of such as apple software updates. If you want to go down a rabbit hole start by reading those software updates. Apple is responsible for sharing more data than any company.
This blog was a little long so I’ll end it with a simple note… Do you like being tracked? Do you want websites to send you ads based on your interest you did not know you were sharing? If you are being tracked and guided into certain thoughts and feelings do you think that should be legal?
Please let me know @tavariusfelton on IG if you want a part 2 or more content as such and I will create a technology blog section .
