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Picture this:
- You type on Google "laptop won't turn on"
- Google now knows you have a broken laptop and can estimate how desperate you are to fix it.
- Because it knows how desperate you are, it can increase shop prices proportionally.
You are going to pay the maximum they get you to pay.
That's algorithmic pricing.
The more companies know about you, the more they can predict and sell how desperate you are to other stores out there.
An internet-connected car knows much more about you than you realize. A smart TV also knows what you like. Your Alexa knows if there is a problem in the home.
Privacy is much more than just sensitive data.
It's about not giving leverage away.
Because algorithms will use it against you.
Be safe out there.
it would seem like someone's name is the least useful data point
That's the whole thing about browser fingerprinting too. Take the set of internet users who have a particular version of a particular operating system, a particular version of a particular browser, having a particular set of typefaces installed, having a particular language preference, and you'll find yourself in the intersection of all of them.
To add to this.
Here’s a website to help you check your own trackability:
https://coveryourtracks.eff.org
It can also help give you advice on how to improve your privacy.
Things that help: (tldr use adblockers but otherwise it’s really about blending into the crowd)
Hard to track: uses Firefox with uBlock origin. Maybe using a popular VPN. Uses an iPhone or a popular model of Android like the Pixel (although Google owning Android/Pixel might mean they get your data anyway…)
Actually very easy to track: uses a niche Chromium-based browser you got from GitHub with niche GitHub project as blockers and a little/known VPN. Uses a niche brand of smartphone with a niche non-Android based OS on it.
Brave is the only browser I can actually get a decent score with, too bad it has crypto brainrot