Have you ever wondered how some ads seem to know exactly what you are interested in, or what you have been searching for online? Have you ever felt like your phone is listening to your conversations, or your TV is watching your reactions? If so, you are not alone. Many people have experienced the eerie feeling of being spied on by tech companies that want to collect data about their behavior, preferences, and habits.
But how do they do it? And more importantly, how can you protect yourself from unwanted surveillance and manipulation? In this article, we will explore some of the technologies and techniques that tech companies use to spy on you, and how you can turn the tables and use them to your advantage.
One of the most common ways that tech companies spy on you is by using cookies. Cookies are small pieces of data that websites store on your browser when you visit them. They can be used for various purposes, such as remembering your login details, preferences, or shopping cart items. However, they can also be used to track your online activity across different websites, and create a profile of your interests, demographics, and behavior. This profile can then be used to target you with personalized ads, recommendations, or content.
But cookies are not the only way that tech companies can track you online. Some of them use more sophisticated and stealthy methods, such as SilverPush, Keyword listening, Fingerprinting, Canvasing, and Device Graphing.
SilverPush is a technology that uses ultrasonic audio signals embedded in TV commercials or other audio content to communicate with your smartphone's microphone. These signals are inaudible to human ears, but can be detected by apps that have the SilverPush SDK installed. By listening to these signals, SilverPush can determine what TV shows you watch, what ads you see, and how you react to them. It can also link your TV viewing habits with your online activity, and create a cross-device profile of you.
Keyword listening is a technology that uses speech recognition software to analyze your conversations and identify keywords that indicate your interests, needs, or intentions. For example, if you say "I need a new laptop" or "I want to go to Hawaii", keyword listening can pick up these phrases and use them to target you with relevant ads or offers. Some apps, such as Facebook Messenger, have been accused of using keyword listening to spy on their users, although they deny it.
Fingerprinting is a technology that uses various characteristics of your device and browser, such as screen resolution, fonts, plugins, timezone, language, etc., to create a unique identifier that can be used to track you across different websites without using cookies. Fingerprinting can also be used to detect if you are using a VPN or Tor browser to hide your IP address and location.
Canvasing is a technology that uses HTML5 canvas element to draw an invisible image on your browser and extract a unique hash value from it. This value can be used as a fingerprint to track you across different websites without using cookies. Canvasing can also be used to detect if you are using an ad blocker or a privacy tool.
Device graphing is a technology that uses various data sources, such as IP addresses, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth signals, geolocation, etc., to map out the relationships between different devices that belong to the same person or household. Device graphing can be used to track your online activity across multiple devices, such as your smartphone, tablet, laptop, smart TV, etc., and create a holistic profile of you.
Tech companies have many ways to spy on you and collect data about you. But why do they do it? And what are the implications for your privacy and security?
The main reason why tech companies spy on you is to make money. By collecting data about you, they can sell it to advertisers or other third parties who want to target you with personalized ads or offers. They can also use it to improve their products or services, or create new ones that cater to your needs or desires. In some cases, they may also share it with government agencies or law enforcement for security or legal purposes.
The implications for your privacy and security depend on how the data is collected, stored, used, and shared. On one hand, some of the data collection may be beneficial for you, as it can provide you with more relevant and useful information, products, or services. On the other hand, some of the data collection may be harmful for you, as it can expose you to unwanted ads or offers,
manipulation or persuasion techniques, identity theft or fraud, cyberattacks or hacking, blackmail or extortion,
discrimination or profiling, or legal or ethical issues.
So how can you protect yourself from unwanted spying and data collection? And how can you turn the tables and use these technologies to your advantage?
There are several steps that you can take to protect yourself from unwanted spying and data collection. Some of them are:
- Use a VPN or Tor browser to hide your IP address and location, and encrypt your online traffic.
- Use a privacy-oriented browser, such as Brave, Firefox, or Safari, and install extensions that block ads, trackers, scripts, and fingerprinting, such as uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger, NoScript, or CanvasBlocker.
- Use a secure and encrypted messaging app, such as Signal, Telegram, or Threema, and avoid apps that may use keyword listening, such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, or Skype.
- Use a search engine that respects your privacy, such as DuckDuckGo, Qwant, or Startpage, and avoid search engines that track your queries, such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo.
- Use a password manager, such as Bitwarden, LastPass, or KeePass, and create strong and unique passwords for each account.
- Use two-factor authentication, such as Authy, Google Authenticator, or YubiKey, and add an extra layer of security to your accounts.
- Use a firewall, antivirus, or anti-malware software, such as ZoneAlarm, Avast, or Malwarebytes, and protect your devices from cyberattacks or hacking.
- Review the privacy settings and permissions of your apps and devices, and disable or limit the access to your microphone, camera, location, contacts, etc., unless necessary.
- Review the privacy policies and terms of service of the websites and services that you use, and opt out of data collection or sharing, or delete your account if you don't agree with them.
But protecting yourself from unwanted spying and data collection is not enough. You can also turn the tables and use these technologies to your advantage. How? By using them to prime your social media apps to work for you and provide you with the context you need when doing research for your goals.
For example, if you want to learn a new skill, travel to a new destination, start a new project, or achieve any other goal, you can use these technologies to feed your social media apps with relevant keywords, audio signals, fingerprinting data, canvasing data, or device graphing data that will trigger them to show you more information, products, services, or opportunities related to your goal.
This way, you can use the power of suggestion and reinforcement to motivate yourself, inspire yourself,
educate yourself or connect yourself with the resources that you need to achieve your goal.
Of course, this strategy requires some caution and discretion. You don't want to expose yourself to unwanted spying or data collection by other parties. You also don't want to overwhelm yourself with too much information or too many options. You need to balance the benefits and risks of using these technologies to your advantage.
