Amazon and Google are spying on you.
They record each of your digital activities and consider you a product.
” If you are not paying for it, you are not the customer; you are the product being sold.” How true has that phrase become over the last few decades?
As we sit in our houses enjoying the mindless bliss of binge-watching the latest show from Netflix or shopping for another dog sweater, Big Tech is happily scraping up all that data and storing it away for future use.
Think about all the different “free” services we use on a daily basis. From email to the voice-controlled shopping lists in our kitchens, we offer these companies all sorts of information about our desires, inclinations, and wants.
How often have you talked to a friend about needing to pick up an item from the store only to open your browser and see an ad for that exact item a few seconds later?
Do you really think that is a coincidence?
This is Not a Secret
Occasionally, whenever enough of us raise the clarion call for someone to do anything to protect our privacy, we are treated to a government-run investigation that seems more sideshow than reality.
In the end, a few new laws are passed, and Big Tech adjusts its practices, so they can continue tracking our data.
Even Amazon’s Chief Technology Officer knows precisely what they are doing when he openly admitted they “collect as much information as possible” to provide advertising suggestions to consumers.
We have to remember these are not product-based companies. Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Facebook, and plenty more are in the business of data.
Their products are us.
Every new search we make, and all the online connections we have are what they use to make more money, and business is going quite well.
The majority of the biggest companies in the world are Big Tech firms. Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon top the list, with Google, Tesla, and others following close behind. These businesses make more than most countries gross domestic product, and they have complete control over our private information.
The Web Scraping Trend
The way these companies make their money through advertising is like this: they use web scraping tools to collect vast amounts of data and private information and then sift through that data to deliver ads based on our preferences.
For example, say you want a new part for your truck. You do one search on Google while logged in to your account, and now all of a sudden, every single website you visit that may have nothing to do with trucks wants to sell you a part. This is because Google runs most online advertising through its Adsense program. So you could be on a website to learn about helping out at the local soup kitchen, and if they have a space for ads, you’re going to see a sale on truck parts.
How to Make it Stop
The bad news is there is no way to 100% stop this tracking from happening. The proverbial cat has been let out of the bag for too long, and these companies know how to line the pockets of politicians, so they remain in business.
However, you can protect yourself and your family by using devices with specially designed software to minimize tracking to only a tiny trickle. That is where Freedom Technology and Services can help. We design and create privacy-related technology products and accessories to keep you safe online and off. Check out our latest items in our shop, and let us help you stay invisible from Big Tech.
