Yes, Facebook and Google are Evil, but…

I got a kick out of watching this video on Adam Ruins Everything.

I have to admit, it is terrifying to think of the gargantuan scale and big-brother possibilities of the data that FaceBook, Google, and Amazon are collecting about us each and every day. Like Adam points out, unless you’re going to sell everything and go live off grubs and spider monkeys in the real Amazon, it’s virtually impossible to completely unplug from the matrix-like tentacles of the Internet advertising giants.

On the other hand, micro-advertising has enabled small businesses (like mine) to take advantage of advertising — something that would never have been possible in the age of commercial mass-market ads. Small businesses and even enterprising individuals can now afford to run ads to promote their products and services because of the precise targeting that Facebook and Google provide. It’s no longer necessary to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to plaster ads all over newspapers, magazines, and television in order to reach millions of eyeballs. Thanks to the social media and search giants’ intrusive tracking mechanisms, advertisers can now spend just a few hundreds of dollars to reach just a few of the right eyeballs.

For consumers, this also makes an interesting difference. We consumers now have access to products and services that we would never have heard of before, because they could never have afforded to reach us. There is a blossoming variety of interesting products offered by companies serving niche markets, and doing so successfully because of the ability to target their ads so precisely. And while it’s definitely creepy to see that product you just saw on Amazon being offered as a banner ad on some blog that you’ve never been to, we are now able to choose from a wider variety of products (and have products that we want offered to us) precisely because of the buyer profiles that our beloved one-stop-shop have compiled about us.

I’m not arguing that Facebook’s and Google’s and Amazon’s techniques aren’t intrusive and maybe even immoral. The collective awakening of Big Brother and the reach and influence that they suddenly have is startling.

But this is a reality that we find ourselves in. I don’t see it going away, do you? Shutting off cookies isn’t a very practical answer (if you login to anything, you still have to use cookies sometimes). I don’t plan on dumping my Gmail account to move to a safer, more private email account simply because of the difficulty of switching. And unless you want to live like the Internet equivalent of a terrified hermit, completely unplugging from the Internet is not an option for most people (though I have to admit I have thought about it).

As consumers we can protect ourselves by learning to be savvy about our habits, the products we use, and how we interact online. As with most things, awareness is our most important ally.

Here are some things that I’ve done to… I won’t say take control… influence my profile:

Switch your default search engine to DuckDuckGo. Duck Duck Go does not track you. I switched years ago aud use it almost exclusively, but still occasionally use Google for some highly technical searches.

Understand that pages you like on FaceBook, the words you use, and even the length of time that you look at a friend’s post are all used to compile an ad profile for you. Use “likes” strategically to build your ad profile, and give FaceBook feedback by clicking “Hide ad” next to ads that don’t interest you. Realize that this helps FaceBook to better target ads for you. Use this knowledge to mentally filter the information that FaceBook is presenting to you.

Use an ad blocker plugin (like Adguard) that has the ability to block cookies and tracking codes. Not only will this make your web browsing feel faster (because it’ll block websites from loading data-heavy ads), it will prevent Google and Facebook tracking scripts from loading. Choose an ad blocker that allows you to “whitelist” certain websites that you do not want to block tracking codes from, such as this one. Understand that by using an ad tracking code blocker you are really screwing with webmasters’ statistics and that eventually the effectiveness of their ad targeting will go down. Use this knowledge to opt in to ad tracking for websites that you do want to interact with. Think of it like one of those reward cards that stores often give you. You might pay with cash at Target because you don’t want them to know who you are, but you’ll gladly sign up for a reward card at Home Depot because you love them so much.

Use a password manager like 1Password or LastPass. Seriously, using the same password for every account is like leaving the key to your front door inside your mailbox. Encourage your spouse, boss, aunts and uncles, and grandma to do it too. It’s a pain but the consequences of getting hacked can be life-altering. A password manager gives you the advantage of using unique strong passwords without having to remember every single one. The most popular password managers are 1Password and LastPass. You can get involved in a spitting contest as to which is the best password manager on Product Hunt.

Learning to functioning effectively and safely on the Internet requires a new set of skills and knowledge that doesn’t come naturally. We’re wired to trust other people, but the Internet requires us to operate with a healthy set of locks and filters on our brain.