At the mall, you check the time on your phone and are
suddenly blasted with ads promoting real-time sales in your favorite stores.
Likewise, you search "gold watch" on the internet, and then
"coincidentally," everywhere you turn there seems to be a watch ad.
These are both examples of targeted ads in which mobile beacons are sent by
brick-and-mortar stores using location-based ads to customers who are in or
near their establishments.
By now, most of us know that this is no "universal
coincidence" and the main driver of targeted advertising is our data.
Companies want to know buying patterns and habits so they can sell them to
marketing and research firms to develop advertising that you just can't resist!
Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google all make money
off mobile ads, and they need this information to boost their ads. Even smaller
companies and your phone carrier also want your personal data so they can
profit off it by selling it to third-party marketing agencies.
What can you do? Well, short of completely going off the
"grid" and never using the internet again, there are small steps to
gain a little bit of your privacy back. Here are some broad-based mobile device
tips to help protect your privacy:
Adjust Your Location Settings
The feature is buried inside privacy settings, and unless
you turn it off, it will record your daily routine. Known as "Frequent
Locations," it keeps track of where you are and how long you stay there.
If you find this disturbing, turn the feature off. You can also clear your
history by clicking "Clear History."
Limit Ad Tracking
Many devices also provide built-in options to minimize and
limit ad tracking. Although these tools will not completely stop companies from
tracking your phone activities nor limit the ads you see, they allow you to
reset your advertising ID and unlink any targeted advertising profiles that are
associated.
Turn Google Off
Google services on iPhones and Android devices still store
your location data even if you've changed your privacy settings. Turn off
Google's location tracking for good.
Use a Private Browser on Your Phone
When web anonymity is important, it doesn't stop even when
you're on the go. You can get comparable anti-web tracking tools on your
smartphone, too.
Check Your Online Accounts Settings
Occasionally it seems
like the tech giants know you personally and they do! Thankfully these
companies and most advertising firms give you tools to opt out of personalized
ad tracking.
Opt Out of Targeted Ads
With all the tracking going on there is a way for you to
opt-out of most interest based, or "behavioral" ads. The Digital
Advertising Alliance and Network Advertising Initiative provide opt out
technologies for consumers. This will not get you out completely and you should
check it periodically.
Verify Your Virtual Assistants
When you speak wake words to a virtual assistant, such as
Siri, the audio file of your voice command is uploaded and saved to Apple or
Google's servers for processing. Before you install apps, you should check the
permissions. Android phones will also give you a rundown of the permission
requests upon installation of an app.
Delete Your Information From Data Brokers
If you really want to eliminate yourself from these
databases, you can contact individual data brokers to clean up or delete your
information. This is not a quick or easy process. But again, you may find it to
be worth the effort.
It's nearly impossible to fully control how our data is
collected. However, the more steps people take to avoid and even boycott
targeted advertising will hopefully send a message that companies who use these
marketing strategies are less beneficial to actual ROI and only turn customers
off by using their personal data without their permission.
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