Here are this week’s Life Pro Tips.
1. If someone offers you something you want, take it. Don’t decline every kind offer out of politeness.
2. Your browser’s Private mode does NOTHING to protect you from Fingerprinting. Nor does using a VPN, deleting Cookies, or removing Cached files. There is almost nothing you can do, so never assume you have privacy.
An experience shared: “In light of the class action lawsuit against Google for continuing to track visitors’ private sessions, I went down a rabbit hole to see if it was possible to avoid being “fingerprinted” by websites like Amazon & Google.
Turns out, it’s almost impossible. There is literally almost nothing you can do to stop these websites from tracking your actions. I can’t believe there haven’t been MASSIVE class-action lawsuits against these companies before now. The current private-browsing suit doesn’t even scratch the surface.
Even when you delete your cookies, clear your Cache, and use a VPN or a browser like Brave (effectively telling websites you do NOT want to be tracked), these websites will still track & build every action you take into a robust profile about who you are, what you like, and where you go.
This goes deeper than just websites. Your Spotify music history is added into this profile, your Alexa searches, your phone’s GPS data, any text you have typed into your phone, and more. Companies like Amazon and Google purchase all of this and build it into your profile.
So when you are ‘Fingerprinted’ by these websites, it’s not just your past website history they are attaching to your session. It’s every single thing about you.
This should be illegal; consumers should have the right to private sessions, should they chose. During this time of quarantine, there is no alternative option: we are forced to use many of these sites. As such, this corporate behavior is unethical, immoral, and in legal terms, a contract of adhesion as consumers are forced into wildly inappropriate terms that erase their privacy.”
3. Imposter syndrome is normal. You will likely feel inadequate or like a fraud at some point in your career. Don’t give in to it, you’re doing better than you think.
4. Parents please PLEASE teach your kids your phone number!
It does help in case of an emergency when the kid is alone or lost track of you or home.
5. Don’t take any information you’re seeing on Instagram, Snapchat, CNN, Fox News, etc, at face value, especially right now, so much is going on, people get things wrong, or spread misinformation purposefully, a quick google search can do wonders verifying the information you’re seeing.
