Profiling: How do you feel about all your spending habits being tracked, used and sold?

If this is the case, that our every movement is being monitored, how is it that there is so much unresolved crime? In theory, no-one should be able to get away with anything.
While on this subject, I have a question. I'm very wary of 'smart' tvs, but the tv I have is starting to play up and it seems all new tvs are 'smart' ones. Is it possible to watch one without connecting to the internet....and use it as a normal tv?
 
Rosemarie said:
I'm very wary of 'smart' tvs, but the tv I have is starting to play up and it seems all new tvs are 'smart' ones. Is it possible to watch one without connecting to the internet....and use it as a normal tv?
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Yes. Just don't plug it into the Internet, or use any built-in apps that connect to the Internet.
 

J.B Books said:
You are just scratching the surface on this topic my man.
This is the business I was involved in for 10 years 1996-2006
The stuff we had 15 years ago would blow you away. We developed a loyalty card system that would recognize you when you walked into a retailer. The store know what you bought. The system would be able to send you an text suggesting this shirt that would go with the sweater you bought last week.
We had neural network datamining software that would get smarter on you when ever you bought something.
Information to manufactures was gold. Cosmetic companies wanted to know what product a 57 year old Hispanic woman was looking at or what was important to that 18 year old girl.
Google tracks everywhere you go. They sell micro marketing to retailers in larger cities. That would be like Joe's diner texting everyone about there lunch special that was within 1500 feet of their location. Health department can use your cell phone info for contact tracing for covid. They track movements of festival attendees to where they go home and if that caused an outbreak.
Companied would buy your data to enrich what info they have on you to develop special offers for credit cards, autos, etc. Every purchase you made, your credit rating, what car you drive, what cities you visit, what you eat, is all compiled into a database and offers are formulated based on that info. The neural network intelligence was developed for the military to track incoming missiles and ICBMs to predict targets and direction which was fed into the missile defense system.
We developed the use of RFID on your merchandise and smart refrigerators to let you know what product you need to buy and what was going bad by expiration date.
I could keep going on an on. It's scary. I use a faraday bag among other things for my phone.
This technology is used by the FBI to completely block a cell phone from the network. Do a search on Faraday bags.
You cellphone is still tracking where you go even when turned off.

Anyway, I don't have time to elaborate more as I could do a core dump for hours on what technology is out there.
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Okay ...about to look for a Faraday bag but am wondering if that's gonna put me on someone's list as a person who has something to hide... :oops:
 
Rosemarie said:
If this is the case, that our every movement is being monitored, how is it that there is so much unresolved crime? In theory, no-one should be able to get away with anything.
While on this subject, I have a question. I'm very wary of 'smart' tvs, but the tv I have is starting to play up and it seems all new tvs are 'smart' ones. Is it possible to watch one without connecting to the internet....and use it as a normal tv?
Click to expand...
Absolutely... just as @Devi said...
 
I'm not crazy about being tracked, and I'd rather it didn't happen. But as I saw technology involved more and more in our world over the decades, I knew it was inevitable. When the supermarkets and local drug stores started making people sign up to use their card, I resisted at first. The more I saw savings not being given to customers unless they were a card carrier, I gave in.

I don't like the idea of a smart TV, but some years back I broke down and got an Android cell phone. I rarely use it for anything but a short phone call to my husband, have disabled a lot of the apps that came already on the phone, and I don't do any bank business or do anything with my credit cards on the phone at all. Unless I'm downloading a security system update, I have the WIFI turned off.

I have Norton Anti Virus on my computer, they offer VPN service, but I haven't chosen to use it yet. It would limit being tracked while shopping or browsing online supposedly, but I don't know if there are any drawbacks of using a VPN. Also, even on my home computer, I don't keep any sensitive information or keep any important files.

I hate the idea of having cameras all over the place, but I know they help business watch out for thieves, plus if there's a robbery or violent incident in a business, there is more hope to catch the criminal with video/camera surveillance. I try not to let the tracking bother me too much, I just don't give our any info that I don't have to, and try and keep a positive attitude.
 
Nathan said:
I used to be an absolute driven privacy freak, but if you want to do anything at all on the internet you're going to forfeit your privacy.
A person could use Tor networks and other measures like the drug dealers and pedophiles do, however nothing's foolproof.
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I would think if they had that much access there'd be more bank acct draining going on. Among other things.
 
I have read a few books on this topic and it is really frightening. I have stopped using Facebook over 1/2 year ago. I do not own & never will own a "not so smart" phone. Yes, I too use "Duck Go Go" and I clean out all those trackers with my McAfee Anti Virus program. I pay cash for small purchases. I never write to Amazon filling out their surveys about their products. I never do those dumb slips of paper at the stores that are suppose to tell them "How are we doing?" This new generation of brios are obsessed with information gathering. A couple of days ago, I tried to phone our government taxation office. They said that I would have to wait over 2 hours for a live voice & then they had the nerve to ask me if I was willing to do a "short" survey after I was finished. What do you think I said? I'm from Canada but that doesn't mean I'm stupid! Every year we are moving closer and closer to a police state where the government and big business will track you all the time and know more about you than you do. In the future, we will be little rodents running in the market place. Actually, I think we are already. When I go to the big city nearby, thousands of cars are driving around all day and maybe shopping. Fewer and fewer are working. Yup, brother! The "Brave, New World" is here and it's not going away. Kind of nice that I'm in my 70s.
 
I don’t like it one bit which is why I don’t use my location on my iPhone and I delete my cookies every few days so I’m not tracked. I also don’t answer my phone unless I know for sure who is calling. Being ultra paranoid seems to have some advantages here. My husband on the other hand couldn’t care less which is why he does most of our shopping but we also change phones often and email addresses. I’m NOT ok with being followed around. I haven’t purchased anything online for quite a while because whenever I did get something , the advertisements of what I’d been looking at would instantly show up on this forum which I’d find spooky. Then again, I spook easily. 😳🙃😅
 
Packerjohn said:
Every year we are moving closer and closer to a police state where the government and big business will track you all the time and know more about you than you do.
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So many agree, tracking our data feels like a liberty too far. I disagree with those who feel that it's inevitable and that they can look at what I do if they have a mind to. That is exactly what the big corporations want. They want us to feel that it doesn't matter because my small life isn't worth looking into.

The Snowden revelations suggest that the NSA can collect 5 billion records of mobile phone location a day and 42 billion internet records including email and browsing history, a month.

German organisation OpenDataCity estimates that while the former Stasi's archives would fill 48,000 filing cabinets, just one US government server could store so much data that, if printed out, the reams of paper would fill 42 trillion filing cabinets.

We know very little about what the NSA does with all this data. But, leaving historical parallels aside, the Stasi archive is a timely warning of the potential consequences of unchecked surveillance. It shows how quickly a system for identifying threats evolves into a desire to know everything about everyone.

Thank you all again for airing your views, some of the posts that you have informed us of makes for very worrying reading.
 
Rosemarie said:
While on this subject, I have a question. I'm very wary of 'smart' tvs, but the tv I have is starting to play up and it seems all new tvs are 'smart' ones. Is it possible to watch one without connecting to the internet....and use it as a normal tv?
Click to expand...
Several years ago I bought a 47" flat-screen TV at Costco, the price was right. But, it didn't have any "smart" features, but I bought a Chromecast plug-in device that gets me access to Netflix and Youtube etc.
 
Well.., I have to say I find it quite amusing that outrage is felt by some when they think they are being tracked...yet... some are willing to put pictures of themselves and location of their homes on social media, thus giving would be identity snatchers or thieves a field day :eek::eek:
 
Keesha said:
I don’t like it one bit which is why I don’t use my location on my iPhone and I delete my cookies every few days so I’m not tracked. I also don’t answer my phone unless I know for sure who is calling. Being ultra paranoid seems to have some advantages here. My husband on the other hand couldn’t care less which is why he does most of our shopping but we also change phones often and email addresses. I’m NOT ok with being followed around. I haven’t purchased anything online for quite a while because whenever I did get something , the advertisements of what I’d been looking at would instantly show up on this forum which I’d find spooky. Then again, I spook easily. 😳🙃😅
Click to expand...
I hate to tell you that even though you turn off your location settings, your phone is still being tracked just not feeding the apps if you have any.
 
I enjoy using some tin foil. set up automatic updates on my phone. Then wrap it in foil. Computer on the other end will keep trying and trying and trying....lol
Yes, really really bored du👅ring freezing rain storm.
 
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