The Messed-Up Modern State of Privacy
Or, rather, a lack thereof.
I was talking with a friend the other day about privacy and how I just sort of assume that whatever I do anywhere online is tracked and monetized. Google, Facebook, TikTok, pretty much any page that collects my data in some way, shape, or form is probably selling that data to anyone who will buy it to make an extra buck.
I mentioned that I have just sort of come to accept this fact, and while I can do things like use different browsers like Firefox or DuckDuckGo, and maybe get a VPN, it ultimately won’t help too much. As such, I tend to use apps that allow me to take surveys and scan my receipts and purchases for various points and rewards. I figure that, if they’re going to use my data to make money, I might as well get a cut of it.
We live in a world where everything we do is tracked, nothing is truly private, and our whole lives are on our phones and computers. Even if we keep things separated, not connected to the internet, encrypted, or otherwise partitioned, any law enforcement agency that can swing a warrant (and a few that don’t have to) can grab our data out from under us, whether quietly via internet connections or loudly by taking our phone and computer in a raid.
Our browser history is tracked. Our purchases are tracked. Our physical location is…
