I am reading more often that people are puzzled by how easily they are scammed. Why are they confused? If you accept emails from businesses with your name on them, the probability, I suggest, is that you will eventually get scammed.
Surely, without thinking too hard, we can understand that the reason we want online banking and conduct many business activities online, including by email, texts and phone calls is because it is convenient. It means that we do not have to physically go to the post office (or shop) to buy a stamp and go to the post box to post a letter. 'Oh no! You cry. I want immediate gratification'. The truth is, most of us are addicted to dopamine. Anticipation releases chemicals in the brain that make us feel good. Send for a parcel and the anticipation is there. We don’t want it to wane so we pay for next day delivery (more than the price for a stamp and an envelope to order it by post). We wake up knowing that the order will be delivered. There it is! Now the anticipation peaks as we unwrap it and test the item in some way. How many emails did you get from the delivery company telling you the order is wherever it is, at different times of the day? Did you give your details to the delivery company? Of course not; the business you ordered the product from did. GDPR makes it clear that the information you supply for delivery purposes can only be used for delivery purposes. Guess what? Warehouses print your name and address on labels that they stick to packages. Your email address is NOT on the label. Did you agree to a third party knowing your email address ? No, you didn’t. Tacitly, you did, because you ordered from a business who routinely passes your details to third parties, and you did not make it clear to them not to. Your fault for letting them breach the GDPR by not complaining. Oh wait! We enjoy the text messages and emails; it heightens the anticipation. Only the most foolish of us actually believes that our email accounts have never been hacked. And, only the most foolish of us believes that our phones and laptops have not been scanned for information. So, surely, we can understand that if we have even one file with our name attached to it or, madly, within the text of the file, on our laptops, phones, in emails or texts, that someone, some business, some hacker, some terrorist, some country, has a profile on us. Just consider how Google and Amazon make money.
If you change telephone service providers, for example, it is imperative that you tell your previous provider to delete your details from their records under GDPR. If you have no longer have an account with them, it is much harder for you to track what they do with your information, and have conversations with them. If you have an account, you may, as is your right, complain to the ombudsman for arbitration; you cannot do this if you do not have an account with a business. Make them remove your details so they can not sell them without your knowledge.
Incidentally, I have never received a single cold call or advertising that matches my preferences.
Frankly, I cannot
understand why people do online banking, and banks actually send emails to
customers with the customers name within the email!
If you want to be lazy, prepare to pay hackers and scammers, with the money you want to use for the extra entertainment you now have time for, because you didn’t walk to the post office.
When you click on
‘Accept cookies’ on web pages, ask yourself, What will I actually
get by allowing my viewing habits to be known?. Who will benefit from
this? Is your web experience really improved? If you did not ask
yourself what information you wanted from the internet, you should
probably just go back to bed and have a little think about yourself.I have a browser that automatically sets all the little sliders to 'NO!' for marketing purposes and tracking. Did you vote for Trump? Did you vote for Brexit? Did you vote for the Conservatives or Labour? Did you badmouth someone? (You should understand that the last one here has a saying attached to it; 'The dog that fetches, carries.' Do you know what that means? It means that the person who provided you with information or gossip will also transport the information you provide them to everyone else. Did you know what you would get when you voted? Do you know what you will get if you do not accept cookies? Never mind! It is quicker to press 'Accept all Cookies' and aimlessly wander and pontificate because it takes no effort, and because every day is a 'duvet-day'.
Awake, ye drunkards, and weep. Joel 1:5