MakeUseOf: “Privacy these days means something completely different than it did even a decade ago. And the only things we have to blame for this are the internet and ourselves. In the age of the internet, we’re only as “private” as the tools we use allow us to be, which isn’t much. While you rejoice in using a lot of free tools, know that you’re actually paying with data. Data is the new currency now and we’re all “giving it away” by blindly accepting all those terms and conditions on a ton of services we use day in and day out. If you deep dive into the privacy policies of these companies, you’ll immediately notice that your data is sold to various third parties. Of course, none of your data is sold with your name on it. You’re nothing but a number to them. This is for “anonymity” purposes, on some level, but it also just makes things easier as they sell your data to marketers so you get targeted with relevant ads.The biggest culprits are all those companies you interact with all day. Sure, Google has a ton of apps you absolutely love, but at the end of the day they make most of their revenue from advertising. Meta’s Facebook and Instagram are great when you’re bored, right? But they pick up a ton of information about your browsing habits, what you like, what you don’t like, what you stop to watch, what you scroll by, and so on. Any site you visit plants a cookie on your browser and every click you make gets logged somewhere…”