There’s a camera on every block and in every store. Someone can take a picture of you at any moment and blast it online. An employer can check your social media and refuse to hire you or fire you. Does privacy even exist anymore?
Apparently, this answer is yes…if you pay for it. There’s a New York Times article in which the author describes the literal cost of her privacy. These cost include $230 to encrypt her data on the Internet cloud, $35 for a privacy filter for her laptop, and $420 to bypass potential hacker and malware laced connections. Overall, $2,200 were spent to protect her online privacy.
I’m starting to empathize with this NY Times writer, in some ways. Sometimes, I like to browse travel websites for my next trip. Yet when I go to another site, surprise! That travel website has an online ad. Let’s not even get in the horror stories of hacking, from credit card theft, ID theft, even sextortion. But at what cost? I’ve gotten use to the ads following me around. I would pay the $35 for a privacy filter. And there are some steps you can take to keep your privacy private for free. I’ve always urged people to change their passwords often and not use the same passwords for all your accounts. So I ask you…Is $2200 a year a good investment on privacy or is it going overboard?