As many consumers are feeling uncertain about their privacy as a result of the NSA, major net companies are starting to react. In fact, many major net companies, including Yahoo, Google, and Microsoft, have rewritten their service agreements to include new terms of use.
Ultimately, these companies have been accused of allowing the NSA to access users’ chat logs, conversations, and other online information. And many of these companies are making it clear in their terms of use that they’re subject to certain government actions, however, they’ll protect user privacy vigorously and to the extent of the law.
While these changes are great, they aren’t exactly adequate; as these companies still sell private information to third party commercial vendors for the purpose of making money. In fact, when you’re going online and searching for something, you’re gong to be bombarded with ads for that product or service for the next few weeks, unless you’re clearing cache and cookies on a regular basis.
Even if you’re using private or cognito browsing, third parties can still track you to a certain extent, and the net company can certainly keep tracking you. At the end of the day, if you’re looking for privacy, you need to disconnect and get offline because any online activity makes you vulnerable.
Consider your smartphone: the government requires cellphone companies to track smartphones as a safety feature. Of course, you’re able to take the battery out and stop being tracked, or buy an old flip phone or a rental phone, but ultimately, many of us don’t even realize we’re being tracked on our smartphones.
To learn how to maintain privacy while leveraging technology, give us a call at (831) 753-7677 or send us an email at [email protected]. Alvarez Technology Group can help you leverage technology in a secure manner!
