Everybody’s talking ‘bout...

How much data are companies storing about you – and what exactly are they doing with it?

When you use any device, from your laptop to your phone, you leave traces. These can be physical – greasy fingerprints on a screen might lead a clever attacker to decipher your PIN code – but they’re most likely invisible. Many large companies (including the likes of Google, Microsoft and Amazon) incorporate tiny trackers into just about every website you visit, offering helpful services to website owners in exchange for a little information on what you’ve been up to. If you’ve ever wondered just how Amazon can show you a month’s worth of toaster adverts after you once looked up the temperature of bread, that’s why.

Many trackers are not just online; unless you opt otherwise, Microsoft will keep information on the way you use Windows

10, Google will remember your search history, and Amazon is looking at far more than just your shopping preferences. If you use a Kindle, for example, it turns out Amazon will keep a record of literally every tap you make on the screen. The company says this is in an effort both to improve its software – it noticed that people were flicking back and forth between pages to reference previous material, and has introduced a new feature to make this easier – and to keep its Whispersync virtual bookmark service in line. It’ll also store your Alexa activity which, if you’re a user of an Echo device, you can check out at amazon.com/alexaprivacysettings.

Crucially, we’ve agreed to much of this tracking, whether deliberately or not. When a website flashes up that annoying ‘we use cookies’ button, that’s not by choice. Legally those sites are forced to tell you they’re tracking you, and you should be able to dive in and find an option through which you can disagree to any terms you’re not happy with. When you’re setting up a new device, or a new copy of Windows, you also get the option to switch off those things which make you uncomfortable. While these companies keep doing it – and they will – we’ll keep talking about it; tracking isn’t as sinister as it sounds, but it is, for the most part, optional. TL