Is you Smart TV spying on you?

[gbpxl]

Checkout the documentary Conditions May Apply.
The gathering and sale of information is a HUGE moneymaker.

This website is likely the only one I visit that does not collect information.
But the bots for the search engines do

Even people who have never used a computer still have a digital footprint thanks to public records being available online.

If you have a gas card, credit card, grocery card, store membership, etc they are monitoring your spending and purchasing habits.

I believe it was AMEX who ended up catching hell for increasing the APR and reducing spending limits on users who swiped their cards at Walmart.
The thinking was if you use to shop at Trader Joes and now have to cut corners at Walmart it is likely that you have taken on a financial burden and are now a higher credit risk.

that would be like seeing someone driving a car in the direction of your girlfriend's house, assuming they're going to have their way with her, and then destroying the car with an RPG

[techwizard]

if you're not breaking the law then there should be nothing to worry about. personally i couldn't care less about my spending/buying habits being known, or what i do on facebook. if you don't want a website to have your information, never visit it. life's too short to be paranoid about being watched all the time, if it's not affecting my real life then it doesn't bother me.

[Fokakis79]

if you're not breaking the law then there should be nothing to worry about. personally i couldn't care less about my spending/buying habits being known, or what i do on facebook. if you don't want a website to have your information, never visit it. life's too short to be paranoid about being watched all the time, if it's not affecting my real life then it doesn't bother me.

Agreed. Most companies have been doing this for years anyways before the advent of the smart phones, and the internet. Instead of ads on your computers and devices, it came in the form of Junk Mail.

[gbpxl]

if you're not breaking the law then there should be nothing to worry about. personally i couldn't care less about my spending/buying habits being known, or what i do on facebook. if you don't want a website to have your information, never visit it. life's too short to be paranoid about being watched all the time, if it's not affecting my real life then it doesn't bother me.

that would be like saying "if you don't want Disney World to secretly monitor your brain activity via secret high-tech drones, then don't go to Disney World"

maybe these companies should just stop invading our privacy

[Izret101]

They have no reason to stop.

If anything the more invasive companies/products have become the more successful they are.

The general populace doesn't care about privacy they care about convenience.

[techwizard]

most of them are covered somewhere buried in their terms of service anyway, yes it's a hassle but you're technically expected to read all of that. the real problem then is people being too lazy to read those, myself included, because if you were to read them you would know ahead of time what you're getting into and can then make a better judgement of who not to support if you have a problem with privacy concerns.

[Izret101]

Pick your poison.
They all have the same clauses.

[gbpxl]

most of them are covered somewhere buried in their terms of service anyway, yes it's a hassle but you're technically expected to read all of that. the real problem then is people being too lazy to read those, myself included, because if you were to read them you would know ahead of time what you're getting into and can then make a better judgement of who not to support if you have a problem with privacy concerns.

It's not a matter of laziness, it's a matter of not having the time to read it. I don't consider myself lazy at all, it's just not realistic to read through every single contract you agree to.

The only times I've read through an entire contract were if I were about to sign a lease or get a gym membership. they purposely make those contracts with the phones, programs, etc extremely wordy and hard to read so that people don't know what they are signing- a practice that needs to be stopped. I think the government needs to force businesses to limit the length of a contract or somehow simplify the wording so your average person will understand it.

[MaterialHandlerMike]

I don't read a lot of the contracts I agree to. That is what makes the South Park episode "Human Cent-iPAD" so damn humorous.