https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/04/smarter-living/10-tips-internet-privacy-crowdwise.html
With the rise of targeted ads, practically reading our minds, to throw us into the chaos of online shopping, WedMD-based medications, and references to paid problem-solvers. Is this technology useful? Maybe for some. Is it becoming creepy? Absolutely.
Digital privacy can be accessible via password protection, ad blockers, privacy settings on social media. Pogue seeks to use alternative methods, such as silencing Google’s reign as the top search engine. The more you Google, the more Google knows about your preferences, allowing access to your personal data you were unaware of going to such an institution.
Paying for an email account is another possibility, as these emails do not have to buy advertisements to remain active, therefore, they do not require the personal information Gmail needs in order to run.
Ghostery is a plug-in that blocks trackers for the web that designates appropriate advertisements for the user.
A concrete solution Pogue describes is working with Apple products since Apple encrypts everything before it leaves your device. This feature is due to the paid-usage of these devices versus the free Google and Facebook opportunities available, which make money in order to run by selling their user’s information.
Apple has made its encryption available to sign in with other services, promising the service will not track information, in competition with signing in with Facebook, which poses a clear risk of tracking especially with specific profile information such as age and city of residence.
In conclusion, Facebook and Google are the main offenders for Internet privacy concerns. Now, how can users take back their private information once it is released to these companies? Is there a way to go back in time and disable “Sign In with Facebook”?