Modern software vendors collect a lot of data. On the surface it is to improve their product, determine which features are being used, detect problems before they get too big, and many other reasons. Under the surface, this data can be used for marketing, for sale to other companies (and government agencies), and like the previous point also many other reasons. (there is a whole industry that is thriving called ‘data brokers’ who pay for data and resell it. sometimes the data brokers are even a collaboration between several companies with similar products)

How does this impact me?

The most direct answer is targeted advertising, a way for companies to determine exactly what you are needing/wanting and showing you ads relevant to that as fast as possible.

Companies are also being more aggresive with “dynamic pricing” (or as some news agencies are calling it, ‘surveillance pricing’), where they adjust pricing not based on costs or demand, but based on your zip code, your past shopping habits, your internet searches, and more. Basically, how much they think you’ll be willing to pay.

Some companies offer “price matching”, where if you can show a lower price online, even at their own website, they will give you that price. However, using a technology called geofencing, where they can tell if you are in one of their stores, their website will start showing the in store prices (or higher to make you think the store is a good deal), which might be very different than if you had looked online from your house.

Dynamic pricing is just one example. Another is that some police departments are running searches against license plate readers and internet activity to profile people doing things they don’t want, even if those things are legal in other places.

All of this is possible because of the data companies are collecting all of the time.

What can be done?

The way to take back control in this situation, is to deny the information from companies in the first place. For you as an individual, or as a representative of a company, to keep ownership of your data. It cannot be sold, or used against you, if other people/companies never have it in the first place.

Where you cannot control the data, like on social media sites, you can sometimes select to remove personalized advertising. This reduces the money the social media company makes from the advertisements (targeted ads generate more revenue), and reduces the quality of the data that the advertisers can collect on you (if you see ads for funeral services, prom dresses, and farm tractors while caring about none of that, they will have a harder time building a profile about you).

The hard truth:

The average non-IT person has no chance of completely owning their digital data. Even a technology person cannot take everything back if you are interacting with any online shopping, social media, or similar activities. Just like an average non-car person could never build a modern car with all of the safety features and electronics on their own without a lot of training and time.

Non-IT people who in their everyday lives that are retail workers, accountants, medical staff, sales people, HR folks, and everyone else in the world that doesn’t dream about data centers in their sleep, don’t have the training or time to take complete control of their digital life.

HOWEVER

There has never been a better time to find the parts of your life that you care about, and learn how to start managing it yourself. The tools and knowledge are out there. (some introductory information will be a part of this mini-series of posts) Most tools even let you collaborate with others, without cost, so you can build a community and help each other.

Don’t be afraid to stand up for your data rights, and to find other people that also care about their privacy.

Data Ownership

Everything you do on the computer, on your phone, in a house with smart devices, on the internet… generates data.

Very few people think about what is being captured, who is receiving a copy, and how it is being used. As time goes on, companies are finding ways to capture every possible interaction and portion of data they can. This is for their own use, and for selling to third party data brokers who aggregate the data. The data brokers compare it with data from multiple sources, and then sell the insights to other companies and governments.

In the past, there was a saying, “If you are not paying for something, you are the product, not the customer.” These days, that line has been completely erased. Even if you do pay for a service (directly or through having advertisements shown to you), you are still the product as the companies have decided to sell the additional data generated.

Notes Before We Continue

Reclaiming ownership of your data is not free. There is a lot of time to spend reading and learning. Depending on which topics are important to you, there might be costs for home equipment or online server hosting. This extra cost and effort is what you are presumably paying for with vendors and services. Unfortunately, you are also getting data theft and monetization that you don’t benefit from.

(of course, companies will say it is not data theft, because you agreed to the practice in the terms of service they make mandatory, but that is another discussion)

Most of the software that will be mentioned has free options (if you manage it yourself), or many of the systems have hosting options available. Some Open Source companies configure their business where they release the software for free, but make their money by hosting their own software for you.

Local

This upcoming post will cover topics such as:

• Your Home Computers
• Browser
• Multimedia (music, movies, TV shows)
• Your devices (TV, fridge, other smart devices)
• Home Automation

A link will be included here when it is published to read the post about these topics.

Online

This upcoming post will cover topics such as:

• Domain/Hosting
• File Storage (Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive, etc.)
• Shareable Content/Blogs
• Passwords
• Bookmarks
• Social Media to RSS
• Email

A link will be included here when it is published to read the post about these topics.

Early Conclusion

It is important to learn what is happening. What you can do about it. Where you can’t do something due to time or training limitations, how you can ask the right questions and find reliable vendors that align with your goals.

Ultimately, this is an ever-evolving topic and you have to regularly check in on the vendors you cannot replace, to make sure they stay aligned with your values and goals.

For example, i was using a company for my online hosting needs. Their service and pricing were great, their documentation was excellent. They were promoting their career openings a lot, so I thought i’d take a look. All of their openings at the very bottom said, “All openings are available for remote workers except Colorado. No candidates will be considered from that state.” At the time, Colorado had just passed a law that any company advertising within the state was required to provide a good-faith salary range for any job openings (one of the first in the United States to do this). The hosting company didn’t like that, so they got around the law by excluding candidates from CO. Living in a particular state is not a protected class, so it was their right to make this exception. I immediately took down my server and closed my account. If they didn’t want workers from CO because of a basic pay transperancy law, then i could find a new hosting provider.