Let us pause for a moment to think how many times a day do you or your family run into the message in the title and click 'ok' or 'accept'. Another common one that most of us have developed almost a robotic level of muscle memory to click on is : 'Click Accept on our cookie policy'.
That mouse click is but a fleeting moment but one that is so Groundhog Day in its repetition that I wonder what goes through people's minds as their fore finger presses down on the mouse. I also wonder how the brain signal that lights up their mind for that millisecond has evolved over time. What information are we trusting with these people whose 'terms and conditions 'we accept'? Do we feel this information is even valuable? Do we feel that it has been so stolen and widely available that it does not matter? Do we feel it is not as valuable as a social security number or a credit card number (oh wait, those have been stolen and published on the dark web ad nauseam)? Have we all just about given up? Do we think about what this means for our kids? I don't believe I will ever know the certain answer to that question but I do know what makes me pause longer and longer these days before yield my information to yet another company.
I have already been notified several times in the last decade that my name, email address, social security number, credit card number, phone number, etc have all been breached in data breaches at companies who I trusted with this information. Today, if you want this information about me, it is cheaper to buy it off the dark web than try to hack me yet again!
So, what remains? What information are companies still actively and feverishly seeking about me and my family's life? Why are we being so closely watched? Who collects this information? And how do sites and services I have never seen before know about me? And by dint of one click of a mouse, why is it my burden to reach out to over 400 companies to remove my information, if I want to preserve my online privacy and security?
Sick of having nothing but questions and no answers (and no, I do not consider the phrase 'we take our customer's privacy very seriously and protect your information as per the highest industry standards' as an answer), we have started to dig deeper.