I have sort of given up worrying about it but then again I don't have a lot of technology in my life. Ring, Nest, etc. It is more of an aggravation. Some of my favorite blogs have so much of it that I no longer look at them. Also, it irks me to think that as an example...if I look up a medical condition that someone I know is going through, the data collected assumes it is my illness and then who knows where that info goes? Some of the most offensive has been since I signed up for Medicare - an avalanche of goods and services for "old people" none of which I need or want.
I had several fascinating "privacy" issues pop up recently, that I believe reflect a deeper level of data mining going on than most people are thinking of:
1) I went to a wildland fire, fought the fire, came home. Didn't even have my cell phone with me. During the time I was fighting the fire, a photo of my crew was published in the local online newspaper. My face was visible. My name was not mentioned. Upon my return from the fire, perhaps 4 hours after the newspaper article went online, I logged into my computer, and Facebook was offering me ads for really cool wildland firefighting gear. It had never offered such up before for my consideration. I can only theorize what might have provoked these ads appearing. Back-end data harvesting and such?
2) I went to the Farmer's Market on the next island over, to help a friend of mine from yet another island do some market research. The product she was interested in making herself would have involved her purchasing a > $15,000 commercial dehydrator. We discussed this product in her car, at the Farmer's Market. She did a web search to pop up some specifications on the dehydrator, handed me her phone to look at. Upon my return home later that afternoon, I was being offered ads for these sorts of dehydrators. I had never searched for this sort of equipment before. I presume some back-end data harvesting noticed that her phone and mine were near each other, that she was searching for ag/food gear, and that we were at a Farmer's Market. Scary.
Pinkytoe - and Bae, although I can see how disconcerting that would be - I try to take this idiot marketing with a bit of humor. They're sometimes so stupidly off. Since trying to remember the title of a documentary about a guy with no possessions, I have been besieged by suggestions that The Exorcist is the movie I'm looking for.
Should probably Snope this, but I recently read about a woman who makes clothing using a license plate pattern, because apparently all these snoop cameras use your license plate to know where you are, and this pattern can confuse them. Like I said, not sure it's true, but it would explain the weird coincidence of driving by a store and having a radio commercial for it suddenly come on.
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