You Can Be Tracked
Can I have a show of hands? Who’s feeling a bit paranoid ever since the NSA news spread? Are you feeling better now that this news has quieted down a bit? We haven’t heard much about the NSA in a few weeks, but that definitely doesn’t mean that the government has stopped monitoring what you do. But, wait, let’s go one step further: it’s not just the government that’s spying on your every move.
I thought it might be interesting to note the many ways that you might be spied on – like, right now. Just as you thought you were safe reading this message…okay, maybe not now, but you should know how and when you can be tracked. Ready for that list?
How You Can Be Tracked
- Anything that has a GPS tracker
- Through companies that record data like Apple (and others)
- By police forces in some states where warrants aren’t required
- By the NSA if you are on the bad list
- By advertisers seeking to find out what your shopping habits are
- Pretty much any time you use a phone
- Whenever you send an email that you think is private
- Through social networks like Facebook and Twitter and others
- By Google and other companies if, and when, the NSA comes knocking
- Through your cheap web hosting company
Is that enough to make you feel really paranoid? Well, don’t start ripping off your nails just yet.
Precautions to Take
To be on the safe side, it helps to always remember that you can be watched by any number of people at once. The best thing to do is to keep this in mind when sending a text or writing an email. Remember: you are being watched and recorded, in most cases. However, it also helps to remember that most people (like the government) are not spying on you – you’d have to be a really bad citizen for that to happen!
What’s the bottom-line here? Keep in mind that everyone from your hosting provider to your phone company can spy on you. But, most of the time, this is for advertising purposes, and not to find out who you are texting all night. I’m also going to throw this one into the mix: if your sending private files on the Internet, make sure that those files are heavily encrypted – the same goes for any cloud storage you purchase.
A Scary World
We live in a world where sites like the Silk Road exist and can be taken down in a heartbeat. That means that there’s not much you can do to make sure your information is kept safe – except to remember that you always have to be cautious!
So, now I want to know: is it right that we are tracked so much? What do you do to avoid this kind of tracking?
