The Surprising Truth About Online Mattress Topper Shopping Revealed in Just 10 Minutes
Staff Editor Have you ever felt like you were being watched online? Well, it turns out you’re not paranoid – they really are watching you. The sense of anonymity that many of us feel while browsing the internet is nothing but a facade. Behind the scenes, data brokers are quietly amassing vast amounts of information about us, creating detailed profiles that are then sold to the highest bidder. In just five years, the amount of data that these brokers have on the average person has more than doubled, painting a startling picture of just how much they know about us.
Dominic Sellitto, a management science professor at the University at Buffalo School of Management, has dubbed this phenomenon the “Creep factor.” It’s the unsettling feeling you get when a company knows more about you than you ever disclosed. Most companies are aware of this and try to avoid crossing the line, knowing that too much personalization can actually put customers off. But sometimes, the line blurs, and you find yourself receiving targeted emails from seemingly random companies. It’s often the case that these companies are affiliated with others you’ve interacted with, creating a web of interconnected data that can be used to target you more effectively.
If you’re concerned about your online privacy, fear not – there are options available to protect yourself. Several states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah, have passed data-privacy laws that give residents the right to request the deletion of their personal data or prevent it from being sold. This gives individuals more control over who has access to their information and how it is used. Additionally, there are services like DeleteMe and Incogni that can help you opt-out of data broker databases without having to navigate the labyrinth of individual opt-out processes.
Sellitto warns of a future where AI algorithms make decisions that impact our lives without our knowledge, highlighting the importance of taking action now to protect our privacy. The sheer volume of data being collected about us is staggering, and if we don’t take steps to safeguard our information, we could find ourselves at the mercy of algorithms making decisions on our behalf. So, next time you browse the web, remember that you’re not as anonymous as you think – but with the right tools and knowledge, you can take back control of your online identity.
