Welcome to the digital age, where privacy is less of a right and more of an optional extra - like heated seats in a car.  We willingly trade personal data for convenience, handing over our browsing habits, shopping preferences, and, for some, an alarming number of cat memes, without a second thought.

Big Tech is Watching You Like a Hawk (With an Ad Budget)
Social media, search engines, and online retailers know more about you than your nosiest neighbour. Google, Facebook (sorry, Meta), and Amazon track your every click, turning it into eerily precise ads. Ever browsed for a new sofa and then been relentlessly followed by sofa sales across the web? That’s data harvesting at its finest (or creepiest).

AI is The Data Gobbler
Artificial Intelligence now supercharges this process, hoovering up data faster than a Labrador with a dropped sandwich. The question is: where does helpful targeting end and full-blown surveillance begin?

Cookies are Sneaky Little Stalkers
GDPR laws mean every website now asks if you're cool with cookies. Most people blindly click “Accept All” just to get rid of the pop-up—without realising they’ve just invited a swarm of tracking pixels into their digital lives. A 2023 study by Ofcom found that only 14% of Brits actually understand cookies (which is still one percent higher than in 2019, so… progress?).

GDPR is Keeping Companies (Mostly) in Check
Since its 2018 debut, GDPR has forced businesses to at least pretend they care about your privacy. Fail to follow the rules, and hefty fines await - Flybe learned this the hard way when they were slapped with a £70,000 penalty for dodgy data practices.

How to Keep Your Data (Somewhat) Yours

1. Ditch the “Accept All” button – Go for minimal cookies instead.
2. Dig through the settings – Most sites do let you opt out of tracking, but they hide it like buried treasure.
3. Be mindful of what you share – Do you really need to announce your mother’s maiden name and first pet online?

Privacy isn’t dead - it’s just been heavily monetised. Keep an eye on your data, or at least make the tech giants work for it.

Source: *ICO’s Annual Report for 2019.