With news of data breaches filling headlines and laws like the GDPR affecting companies’ policies, it’s wise to reexamine one’s own data privacy practices. There’s a lot of sketchy info on the subject doing more harm than good. This article aims to combat it by highlighting and shattering the most common privacy-related misconceptions.
Security Equals Privacy
Security should be a top priority for any company dealing with user data, and it’s definitely a top buzzword in their marketing speak. However, just because a company has a stellar security track record doesn’t mean they respect your privacy to the same degree.
Case in point – Google. The tech titan was never a victim of incidents like large-scale data breaches that expose sensitive information on millions of users. Yet, Google is notorious for collecting user data to offer more relevant and personalized ads.
Incognito Mode Protects Your Privacy
Every modern browser has an incognito mode. It’s super useful if you share a computer and don’t want other users to see what you’re up to, like researching a surprise vacation for your anniversary. Incognito mode covers your tracks on that local machine, yet, it does nothing for your privacy!
Using incognito mode logs you out of accounts and deletes any cookies and session data as soon as you close a tab. Nothing about this prevents your ISP from accessing your browsing history or hackers from attacking you if you visit websites without secure communication protocols.
Any VPN Is Good Enough to Protect You
VPNs can certainly be powerful tools for upholding your online privacy. Activating one establishes an encrypted tunnel for secure data transfer, so you can work from anywhere and not fear eavesdropping or data theft. This means that the information masked by a VPN includes your browsing history, IP address, and location data, ensuring that advertisers and ISPs do not know which sites you visit.
You have to find the right VPN provider first, though. Free VPNs rarely offer the sophisticated protections they advertise. Worse yet, some will actually track and sell your data rather than obscure your activity! You’ll want a VPN that keeps no user logs, gets regular audits, and enjoys the trust of millions of users worldwide.
To make an informed decision, it’s essential to consult a detailed VPN comparison that evaluates various providers based on security features, privacy policies, and overall performance.
Hackers Don’t Care about the Little Guy
Complacency in taking online privacy seriously stems from believing in one’s insignificance. Individuals and small business leaders fall into the same trap. Meanwhile, 73% of American SMBs were cyberattack victims last year – how’s that for a wake-up call?
You don’t have to be a business owner, rich, or famous to be a tempting target. Crooks can find lots of uses for your accounts and hardware, from stealing confidential company data you keep among your files to integrating your computer into a botnet that harms others with DDoS attacks.
Setting Social Media Accounts to Private Is Enough
While switching your accounts to private is a step towards reducing your digital footprint, it’s far from a definitive solution. Companies that own your social platforms still retain access to all your conversations, media, etc. They can and do use these to tailor what content they show and which potential connections to highlight. There’s also the matter of using your information and activity for customer profiling or sentiment analysis.
Private profiles may still reveal much about you, depending on the platform. Details like your real name, username, job title, and blurbs are enough to make you a target of various scams.
There’s Nothing to Hide, so Privacy Isn’t Important
We’ve saved the most insidious myth for last. Many people are transparent about their online activity and don’t consider privacy a concern. Such an attitude is wrong and potentially dangerous on two levels. Even if you have nothing to hide, there are likely past events, actions, or opinions you’re not proud of; others have no business searching for.
Moreover, none of us know what future societal shifts may bring. For example, canceling people due to something they said or did decades ago, even though they’ve since matured, is a thing now. Some things society deems permissive today might be frowned upon or even prosecuted tomorrow.
You’d be surprised how much info data brokers and their clients can amass from freely available online sources. The good news is there’s a cure even if you’ve been careless. There’s been a surge of data removal services that scour the internet for information that links back to individuals and dispose of it for a fee.
Conclusion
As we move toward Web 3.0 and a cookieless future, data privacy and associated governance are bound to play an even more important role in all our lives. We hope this article will help you distinguish fact from fiction and take better care of your personal information.
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