More and more websites, online services, social media sites, APPS etc want to track us – track what we buy, track where we go online, track any details about us they can get e.g. IP address, location etc. because that data is valuable to them.
Sometimes they ask for permission to track us e.g. when you agree to their terms and condition, but often that’s not the case.
Is it all bad?
No.
For example, that tracking means the website can serve up adverts more to your liking rather than random ads, but many people don’t like that as it often takes the form of the same adverts following you from website to website.
How to Reduce Your Trackable Information
Reduce the level of information about you on the Internet to a necessary minimum and be aware that criminals can use whatever information they find against you.
- Email addresses
You can use multiple email addresses to separate your online activities e.g. use one email address for financial matters and one for social media and one for retail sites and one for unimportant websites.
You can also use disposable/ one time email addresses for any site you think will send you spam.
- Withhold your information or make stuff up where it’s not important e.g. misspell your name and give a fake birthdate
- If you’re not using any online accounts then delete them – you can always open a new one if needed
- Be careful of anything you publish on social media or that other people publish about you – e.g. pets names (possible passwords) or dates you’ll be away e.g. on holiday
If you have any experiences with these scams do let me know, by email.
