Privacy? Once upon a time, my life was my own

I didn’t realize how frustrated I was with the technology that has wiped away my privacy and turned my life over to complete strangers until I sat down to write this column.

I admit I am mad as hell but I just can’t seem to pound enough anger in my words to adequately express what has become the complete invasion of my privacy.

And I guess I am ticked off because there is nothing I can do about it because I, like tens of millions of other Americans, gave permission for this to happen. Or did we?

I don’t think any of us — certainly not the people of my generation — wanted or expected to have our personal lives available to the public simply to shop, research or have fun online after the World Wide Web put the ease of doing so at our fingertips.

But we did when we clicked “OK” to the fine print nobody bothers to read.

And we all know what that fine print is: a long, scrolling explanation of the manufacturers’ rights written in legalese that to the average eye is incomprehensible.

In it, we find what is known as the terms and conditions.

They’re in every contract between a buyer, seller or user of a product. And it is the language in the fine print that is stripping us bare and leaving our lives open to hackers and any business willing to pay the price for our information.

I have always wondered why the terms and conditions are not written in a manner that is readable and understandable to the average person.

I think most people are like me: we knew we were giving up some aspects of our privacy as we filled out forms to conduct business online. But never did I think it would so intrusive or become so creepy.

I am being followed by complete strangers. I don’t know who they are and I don’t know anything about them — but they’re not the businesses I willingly gave my information to.

But they know everything about me. I can’t buy a pair of shoes, check into a hotel or rent a car without being followed and bombarded with offers.

I have never met them and yet, when they correspond with me through emails, texts and phone calls, they address me by my first name as if we have been friends forever.

And it is not getting better.

Now, Google has access to the personal medical records of people in 21 states and Apple, Microsoft and Amazon want in, too.

And that has got to drive everybody crazy as Google has already proven it is willing to violate privacy laws and simply pay the fine for doing so.

Somebody tell me, where does this end?

I don’t know but I do know more people are becoming concerned about the consequences of their lives becoming an open book to people they don’t know. According to a survey conducted by the Advertising Research Foundation, more people were less likely to share personal information in 2019 than they were in a previous study conducted by the firm a year ago.

There is a good reason for that.

Companies have proven they are impotent when it comes to safeguarding our personal information. Hackers hit them again and again and we don’t find out until months later — months that the hackers can spend rummaging through the details of our lives to calculate how it best suits their needs before that information is passed on again.

Not even government files have been safe from them.

No matter how companies try to spin it, I know my personal information is passing through a lot of hands —- and I know dirty hands are at work in clean places.

President Donald Trump as well as Republicans and Democrats in Congress have called for a national privacy law to protect people online and issued a deadline to have the particulars in hand.

But the deadline has passed and Congress and the president are so busy fighting, they haven’t noticed.

I like that technology has put the ease of living at our fingertips. There is nothing quite like sitting on a couch at home and clicking a mouse to get whatever you want — from food to clothing to child care and buying a car.

But the price has become too high, at least for me.

To paraphrase Sting and the Police, every move I make, every step I take, I know they’re watching me.

What do I have to hide? Nothing … but then again, they probably already know that.

Privacy? Once upon a time, my life was my own.

I think most people are like me: we knew we were giving up some aspects of our privacy as we filled out forms to conduct business online. But never did I think it would so intrusive or become so creepy.

Jenny Kane / Associated Press Columnist James Walker says “I don’t think any of us — certainly not the people of my generation — wanted or expected to have our personal lives available to the public simply to shop, research or have fun online after the World Wide Web put the ease of doing so at our fingertips.”