It's true that it is hard to see the harm constant surveillance causes. The impacts it has on your life are so indirect that it's often impossible to trace, or to even know that it's happened.
The data companies collect from you is sold to others who collect it and sell it in turn. Dossiers are constructed about you as an individual listing your specific traits, activities, political leanings, etc. You can't see what these companies have decided about you, how accurate it is, who has access to your data, how they are using it, how (or if) they are securing it.
Sometimes when it comes back to bite you in the ass you'll know. your data will be leaked to the public internet, or you'll be a victim of identify theft.
Other times, your life will be impacted but you won't know why. Maybe you don't get called back for an interview at a job you wanted, but you don't know it was because they didn't like something saw in a report from a data broker (you bought too much alcohol for example). Maybe your insurance rates go up next year, but you won't know it's because of how often you eat out. Maybe you can't get a table at the restaurant you wanted to eat at, or maybe you're paying $10 more for a product you buy online than your neighbor, maybe you just wait on a hold a little longer than others when you call customer service, but you won't know it's because you weren't rated highly enough on your secret "consumer score".
The way the data companies collect can be used against you are myriad and subtle, but it's being done all the time, it's probably already impacted you. You just aren't allowed to know it.
The data companies collect from you is sold to others who collect it and sell it in turn. Dossiers are constructed about you as an individual listing your specific traits, activities, political leanings, etc. You can't see what these companies have decided about you, how accurate it is, who has access to your data, how they are using it, how (or if) they are securing it.
Sometimes when it comes back to bite you in the ass you'll know. your data will be leaked to the public internet, or you'll be a victim of identify theft.
Other times, your life will be impacted but you won't know why. Maybe you don't get called back for an interview at a job you wanted, but you don't know it was because they didn't like something saw in a report from a data broker (you bought too much alcohol for example). Maybe your insurance rates go up next year, but you won't know it's because of how often you eat out. Maybe you can't get a table at the restaurant you wanted to eat at, or maybe you're paying $10 more for a product you buy online than your neighbor, maybe you just wait on a hold a little longer than others when you call customer service, but you won't know it's because you weren't rated highly enough on your secret "consumer score".
The way the data companies collect can be used against you are myriad and subtle, but it's being done all the time, it's probably already impacted you. You just aren't allowed to know it.