The Illusion of Privacy

Bring up the topic of privacy at a dinner party, and you’re likely to stir up an energetic conversation. You may hear people swear their electronic assistant is listening to everything in their home, not just their requests. Or they may tell stories of having a conversation about buying something with their spouse, only for an ad to encourage that very purchase the next time they open a browser.

Well…yeah.

If you are under the illusion that you have online privacy, it must be because you don’t do any of the following:

Use Social Media

If you use Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest or LinkedIn, you are voluntarily sharing private details about your life. Even if you never mention your children, your job, your travel plans or your income level, social platforms can probably make pretty good guesses based on the people you’ve friended.

Raking in Rewards

Does your grocery store have a rewards program? How about your gas station? Whatever kinds of rewards programs you’re enrolled in, that information is being used. They’re not in business to save you money, no matter what they say. They’re gathering data about what you buy and you’ve volunteered that private information.

Asking the Google Box

Sure, it makes calls, but if you treat your phone as a search device, you are providing valuable information about what you’re interested in. Take a look at your search history on Google and think about all the things you’ve just shared about yourself. Maybe you’re shopping for a car/new job/vacation home so you’re volunteering information about your budgets and income. Or you’re searching for youth group icebreakers or a book about college decisions and now you’ve made it clear you have teenagers.

Using Your Phone for…Anything

Other cell phone activities gather information as well, such as your family’s shared calendar or your app that tracks your exercise. It’s all out there, and voluntarily at that. Maybe you’re using the maps app or a banking app, providing a lot of insight into your world.

Enjoying Conveniences

Ever allowed a site to remember your password? Congratulations, your life just became a tiny bit more convenient, as well as a tiny bit less private. Any time you let a site remember your password or store your credit card number, you are offering up your privacy.

Privacy is a topic that can rile people up, ready to skewer Facebook and Amazon for their behavior-tracking ways. But privacy left us a long time ago, unless you’ve been one of the few that avoided the above activities.

Now that we’ve talked about privacy around your data, let’s talk about all the great and beneficial things that come out of reliable data. And take a look at all-in-one marketing platform from DirectMail.io, making connections with potential customers easy and convenient.