Each time we send an email, snap a smartphone pic, stream music and television shows or log onto any of our fitness, shopping or banking apps, the tech companies that run these services quietly hoover up our personal and lifestyle data.
It’s the onerous price we pay for the privilege of being connected – not to mention having cool apps. Sure, we know companies are collecting info about our spending, watching and exercise habits, but unless we parse the legalese of their user agreements, we don’t have a clue what they’re doing with this often highly personal information.
To add clarity to this murky business model, the privacy-focused software company Mozilla offers an online buyer’s guide. Its “*Privacy Not Included” portal researches all the latest connected hardware and apps and lists what data the company is tracking, what they’re doing with it and how they’re protecting it. The reviews even incorporate “Creep-o-Meter” ratings that are built on reader feedback. Little wonder that 91 per cent of users rated Japanese automaker Nissan as “very creepy” for using the sexual activity, health diagnosis data and genetic information of its users “for targeted marketing purposes.”
Makes you wish all tech companies would echo the spirit of Ecobee: The Canadian company that makes thermostats and home-monitoring equipment promises it will never “sell, rent or otherwise share your personal information” without your consent. It’s right there in the user agreement: “Your personal information and data belong to you.”
A version of this article appeared in the April/May 2025 issue of Zoomer with the headline “A Little Privacy Please,” p. 54.
