In the context of VPNs for example. Some VPNs store and provide information about what sites you go to third parties. Third parties analyze it and figure out what adds to show you. Hmm... then let them show me those adds they want to show me. I do hate adds as a whole and use an add blocker, thus. But I couldn't care less what particular type of adds they show me, they are still adds.
Someone knows what sites I go, what then. If someone curiously inquired me on this type of information I'd tell them without giving a second thought. Incomparably larger amount of data I put out just by making comments and posts.
What if you were a woman who had a miscarriage and the trackers got ahold of that information from your search and browsing habits on planned parenthood (which has a LOT of third party trackers and cookies)? Would you like to see ads of what could have been your baby for eternity?
This information could be sold to insurance providers and your premiums could go up since you’re more of a “health risk”.
There are endless avenues where your data could end up and affect your life in the real world.
You are thinking way too small about what can be done with that amount of data on you. I'll give you an example. I once did some programming work for a website. The website got 'hacked' (An administrative admin had their password guessed because they weren't using good password habits). This website had poor security and with the admins password the 'hacker' was able to get a DB dump. Bad stuff. So me and another guy set out trying to identify who had done it. Via server logs we were pretty sure we had correctly tied the 'hacker' to a user of the site. By looking at their activity on the site, and what referral links they had followed to get to the site previous, we learned where they approximately lived and their first name. But we knew we needed more info than that, so we looked at his hobbies and figured out he liked pokemon quite a lot. We then created a 'what pokemon are you' quiz, asking mostly unimportant questions, but throwing in a couple we needed in order to be able to report him to his local authorities (IE their last name and some other info I can't remember off the top of my head). We then had this quiz get posted by an account not associated with the running of the site. the 'hacker' filled it out, and we reported him for breaking the law with our evidence to his local authorities.
So to reiterate, 2 idiots with no background in data science and like 16 hour between us, were able to manipulate an arbitrary guy into doing what we wanted because of a relatively small amount of data. Now Imagine what people dedicating their lives to this stuff can do to you.
I probably should care about what big companies are doing with my data, but honestly I feel I’ll just be one more person in a group of a million. Companies won’t care.
What I’m scared of is stuff like the example above. A dedicated person trying to connect my online identity to my real-life one.
Maybe I lack foreseeing ability but they can... guess what university I study in, what meds I take, the government could know much more if they commit themselves.
Some guy mentioned insurance, that would probably make a point, but I live in a country we don't have it
Although my anecdote ended with additional data collection, the scary part is the manipulation of action. You might think that, as an example, they see you browsing a pokemon website and therefore show you more pokemon ads, something that coule be mutually beneficial. What you should be worried about, is something like based on your browsing behaviour they figure out how to manipulate your political action, or figure out your state of mental well-being and manipulate it. There is especially horror cases here when this is algorithm driven instead of being pushed by humans. One could imagine ,and I want to preface this by saying I'm not aware of this ever having happened, a machine learning algorithm relating signs of some mental illnesses with an uptick in firearm sales, and then increasing advertising of firearms to those people. You could imagine this driving things like an increased suicide rate.
Literally. The moment someone wants to have a look at my anus, I'd already have shown them. What's the deal with everyone? We need to be more transparent with these kind of topics. Nobody wants to share anymore. We are all walled off behind our smartphones and doors and houses.
Online privacy is not something that anyone should take lightly. It is a matter of protecting personal data and one's human rights. Personal data can include anything that identifies you or reveals something about you (e.g. your health records, browsing history, etc.). This data can be - and is - collected, stored, analyzed, and often sold by third parties without your consent or knowledge. This in turn can lead to serious consequences for you.
To name just two examples. Advertisers can use your personal data to target you with ads that manipulate your behavior or preferences. Governments can use your personal data to monitor your activities or censor your opinions. The very fact that you post this question under an alias and not your real name makes the point that you value your online privacy.
In line with that, online privacy allows you to express yourself freely and access information without censorship or surveillance. Online privacy is a human right that we should respect and defend. It is essential for social justice and human dignity. Without online privacy, we cannot enjoy the benefits of the internet as a platform for open communication, education and sometimes innovation. We cannot participate freely in online communities, share our ideas, learn new things, or explore new possibilities. We cannot challenge the status quo, expose corruption, or demand accountability. Many might not be able to be themselves, without fear or shame.
In my opinion, we should use encryption tools, trustworthy VPNs, secure browsers, and other methods to safeguard our personal data from prying eyes. We should also support and listen to organizations that advocate for privacy rights and fight against online privacy violations.
It matters, because it is our right and - frankly - our responsibility.
Forgive the rant... this topic is important to me.
TL;DR
Online privacy is important, because it protects our personal data and our human rights from misuse by third parties. It also enables us to express ourselves and access information freely on the internet.
As another user said, it’s good to ask these questions. We shouldn’t shame people for asking. I’d rather ask a question and look stupid for needing to ask it once, than be ignorant forever. Could they have just searched “why should I care about privacy” online and gotten tons of answers? Yes. I’d also imagine that not everyone grew up with the norm of exhausting all other avenues of information before you ask other people for help.
As for how they asked the question, I’m just reading it as them saying they don’t care about privacy, not that we’re all idiot twats for caring. I think it’s an honest question, not a disingenuous “why does anyone care, you shouldn’t and you’re all stupid if you do.”
Well imagine coming to a vegetarian forum and asking: "Why does everyone make a fuss about killing animals? I eat meat three times every day, go on hunts every month, sometimes just for fun, I don't even eat those animals. Also I don't care about cages and all that, animals don't have souls anyway."
It may also be a genuine question, but sometimes it's good to spend 10 seconds before asking, either by just thinking or maybe do a very brief web search.
In general, questions of the "I don't care about X so I don't see why anyone else could" kind tend to be like that. You can ask, but you can also expect people won't want to talk to you.
I'm not too vocal when it comes to privacy but I will tell you that I really don't like how algorithms take data and use them in order to manipulate the masses. It just seems very controlling, like you're being controlled by a clairvoyant puppetmaster.
The VPN thing really depends on which VPN you are getting. A lot of them prey people's misconceptions like being able to access Netflix content from different regions or being an all in one solution for privacy. A VPN can come in handy if you are connecting to restricted or monitored networks. If you are at work and don't want your boss knowing you spend a quarter of your day watching Twitch streams for example.
My big concern and why I'm so privacy focused is because of what people could do with my data and not having any control over it. There were some third party websites for Reddit where you could enter a username and it would spit out metrics based off of what you've said. One thing it could do was tell you where someone lived. I know someone could go through all my comments and posts manually for any times I slipped up but the ease and automation of it are things I didn't care for. I want to add an extra hurdle.
Data leaks are another big concern because then your information is just out there without even a facade of privacy for anyone to utilize
Selling bad products to customers is about finding just the right amount of inconvenience for the customer. You never know what information about you can be used by an AI model to pinpoint your threshold. I would like not to be used in a borderline consumer herding.