Where were you when you realized that Facebook was just a data collection scheme, and they’ve lost your data MANY times? 

Or was it one specific breach, like say Equifax, or National Public Data where it finally hit home that ALL your sh*t is out there, you can’t verify the security of any of it, can’t get it deleted,  have no idea where it all is, and people are just taking it at will?

Technology companies have been playing this long, masterful con that has played on our ignorance for years. They knew we weren’t yet sophisticated enough to figure out what was going on.  They knew politicians and regulators weren’t up to speed on what was happening. They knew that if they kept it secret, murky and confusing that it would take years for us to catch up. 

They distracted us with shiny objects so that they could rob us blind before anyone would ever figure out that the heist had already happened.

It was a cute plan. Cute as a pail full of kittens.  A plan so good they could steal Ebbet’s field. (Credit: The Heist)

A con game, also referred to as a confidence trick, hustle, or scam, is the act of intentionally misrepresenting facts in an attempt to gain the trust of another person. This is usually done so that the person being conned, or the mark, will transfer money or property (or data) to the con artist.
Source

It started out innocently enough

Early computing was installing programs on your device.  Everything those programs did happened on your computer.  Your device wasn’t constantly sending back information about everything you did…somewhere… to someone. You were in control of your data. You owned it. (You also owned the software but that’s for another day 🙄)

Then they made a seemingly reasonable pitch:

Hey, if we can gather "anonymous data" about how you use our product, we can produce a better product that fits your needs.

And we went for it. 

We didn’t think to ask how can it be “anonymous” when you’re recording my IP address, make me create an account, and have already charged my credit card. We didn’t think we had to. I mean who would do something so dishonest and diabolical? 

Then they realized (or already knew) that this data…OUR DATA… was worth more money than the product itself. And they knew that we didn’t know it because we still had no idea what’s going on. 

So they started changing the terms of the deal after the sale.  Granting themselves more & more permissions to take your data off of the devices that you paid for, send it back to themselves over your internet connection, and then claim ownership of it.

We even let that slide. Surely that’s the end of it, right? Surely we’ve given enough now. 

Nope. We gave too many inches. 

They kept going.  Fatiguing us with so many TOS changes that we just gave up trying to understand them.
It was no longer enough to spy on us, now they wanted to know what other Wi-Fi signals are in our area, our location at all times, and who our friends and family are. 

They’ve literally become stalkers. 

The "personalized" ads scam

Them: "Hey, we know you hate ads & how invasive we've made them. Wouldn't it be great if you could see ads that are relevant to you?".

Us: "Aren't you already doing that? I mean if I'm on a car website, it stands to reason I'm receptive to ads about car stuff."

Them: "Yeah, but we can show you car ads everywhere. Isn't that great?".

Us: "But I've already told you the kinds of things I'm interested in, just show me that."

Them: "Well, that doesn't make us enough money. Line must go up. But if we can watch everything you do, then we're better positioned to predict your behavior."

Us: "This sounds MORE invasive. I don't want that".

Them: Yeah...we're going to do it anyway because this is better for you & you've already agreed to it by turning on that device that you just paid $1k for so...."

So, like Marvel villains they started telling themselves that if they could just consume everyone’s data, they could predict the future, human behavior, and “disrupt” all the markets.  Real estate, shopping, mattresses, hotels, food delivery, cabs…everything. They could have it ALL! 

TOS’s got more brazen.  Now it’s not just about using the data to improve products, it’s about sharing selling that data with to their 1900 “partners”.  Who are these partners? No idea. Never heard of them. Can’t look them up. Can’t pinpoint exactly who is running them, & you damn sure can’t audit their security. 

It’s a black hole.

Now EVERYONE is in on it.

Every website, every weather app, every device maker, even my damn RGB light bulbs have to be set up with a mobile app which means Govee is on my phone all the time now.   
(Although for things like this I install the apps on a cheap tablet that never leaves the house. I WILL NEVER put these apps on my phone.)

It doesn’t matter how much we pay for our devices or services, they’re still going to stalk you. The excuse used to be that your data was payment for free services. Now they just take your data no matter how much you pay. 

THEN, they decided, “You know what? We don’t need them to actually engage with the app, we’ll just set it to send back data all the time, even when they’re sleeping and we’ll put stalkers in EVERYTHING! 

Disable this feature to stop your Samsung Smart TV from listening to you

CNET

Even car makers got in on it.  Did you even know your over priced car had the ability to send constant data somewhere? Of course not and they were never going to tell you. Someone had to catch them doing it.

And that’s the thing, THEY ALL KNOW it’s wrong, they know it’s unethical, they know it’s creepy and sleezy AF.

This is why they go through such effort to hide it.

Then there’s the gaslighting. Telling you that what you’re watching them do, and they keep getting caught doing… isn’t really what they’re doing.

Researchers catch Meta apps abusing Android to track sensitive browsing history

Android Police

Oops. We lost your data.

Then, when someone steals the data from them, that they stole from you, they don’t tell you for weeks. When they finally do they just toss $8.25 worth of credit monitoring at you backed by the company who already had one of the largest data breaches in history, and from there you are pretty much on your own.

Maybe the company gets a fine that they can scrape up in the couch cushions. Maybe there’s a class action lawsuit that takes years to settle where the lawyers make millions, but for you to get your $12 cut you have to give them…you guessed it…even more data. 

It’s the abusive relationship that keeps on giving.

Promises, promises

They all say that they take your privacy and security seriously, but there’s absolutely no way to verify any of their claims. 

No way to know where anything is stored, how it is secured, if it’s ever deleted.

No way to verify that they aren’t using your data to train their AI models. 

Even if they are bound to follow local laws, there’s still no way to prove they’re actually doing it. 

There are no audits. No publicly available information about where the data is stored, who is responsible for it, let alone their 1900 “partners”.

We aren’t even really sure of everything they can track now. 

You can’t serve a grilled cheese sandwich in this country without being checked out by the health department as are your suppliers. There’s a public grade of your operation and public record of their audits.
But you can gather data off of people’s phones, store it wherever & however. Data that can be used to target them, steal their identity, rob them blind or worse with absolutely no oversight? 

It’s nuts!

These companies now feel that they have a right to your data and you’re just in the way. 

Well, surely there are regulators looking out for our best interest, right?

Lol! No.  I mean if you live in the EU  GDPR is trying to look out for you, and some states are trying to do something and pass data privacy laws.

At the federal level? Lina Khan was trying to do something, but America didn’t like that direction so we went the opposite way. 

Most lawmakers still have no understanding of what is going on, hell many don’t even understand how basic technologies work. Of the ones who do they’ve been stuffing their Super PACs & re-election coffers with the proceeds of the heist for years.  They’re not going to turn off that tap now, they need that money to get re-elected.

Also police and  government agencies are the data broker’s biggest customers. Who needs a warrant when you can just buy the data from the thieves?

Can anyone say for sure that data brokers aren’t collecting hacked data, packaging & reselling it? Of course not because it’s a secretive free for all with no rules. 

I always thought (like with everything) that legislators wouldn’t care until something happens to one of them. Well, that’s hasn’t seemed to have made a difference. It’s unconscionable that their own colleagues who were hunted down thanks to the wealth of private information that you can find about anybody will have died in vain and not one thing will have changed. 

OK, so what can we do about it?

  • First things first: Stop ignoring this issue at the polls. Vote for local, state, and national representatives who give a shit and at least talk about doing something about it. Then once they’re in office, stay on them.

    Senator Ron Wyden is one of the only U.S. Senators who is constantly talking about this. I don’t care what party you align with, at least he’s trying to do something and is one of the only ones that I know of who has EVER written a bill to do something about it.
  • Support privacy focused organizations like Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the ACLU who are fighting the good fight.

    This goes on because no one is making law makers do anything about it. We’re not making enough noise.  Remember they work for us, not the other way around. 

Stop willingly giving away all your data

Yeah, we’ve been screwed, used and lied to up till now, but that doesn’t mean we have to keep being screwed. 

  • Support open source products and companies who take your privacy seriously. 
  • Slowly wane yourself from platforms where data collection is their business model. Facebook, Instagram,  LinkedIn, Reddit and pretty much all the others. They are all spyware. They are all stalkers. You are the product. 
  • Uninstall the apps. I get it, you’re hooked. Social apps are how you communicate or do business. Fine. But that doesn’t mean you need to let them track your location 24/7.  Use the browser version.  They’re still tracking, but at least it’s limited to a single computer, and only while using the platform.  
  • Start using privacy respecting social apps. Mastodon is a non-profit decentralized network created by Eugen Rochko who believes ” that instant global communications were too crucial for modern society to belong to a single commercial company, he sought to build a user-friendly microblogging product that would not belong to any central authority, but remain practical for everyday use.”

    Bluesky is also in transition to be a decentralized app that does not collect or profit from your data. 

  • Use privacy respecting, encrypted messaging apps like Signal. 
  • Stop buying products from companies like Samsung who just do not give a f*ck anymore are just blatantly collecting data and tracking EVERYTHING you do no matter how much money you pay for their over priced products. 
  • Have your own “cloud”.  The cloud is just someone else’s computer. Start backing up your stuff to your own devices. You can go as simple as a USB or external hard drive, or use any number of NAS (Network attached storage) devices. 
  • Check out data deletion services like Delete Me and Easy Opt Outs. It’s playing whack-a-mole but they do work better than trying to force these companies to delete your data on your own, which they intentionally make as difficult as possible so that you will give up trying. 
  • Consider alternative operating systems for personal use like a Linux Mint on your computer, and Graphene OS on your mobile device. 
  • Check out privacy respecting browsers like Brave, or Mullvad,as well as, DNS services like Next DNS.
  • Techlore is an awesome privacy resource that I highly recommend.

Data collection has gone far beyond collecting metrics to improve products. These companies are stalkers now.

If you’ve read this far then I’m not crazy, you see it too, and you’re also sick of it. We don’t have to just keep taking it.

If you’re interested in learning how to obfuscate your activities on the internet, check my article – How to Build a Tor Gateway for Your Home or Office Network (step-by-step)

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