At what point do you get creeped out with technology’s ever expanding ways to collect and use your personal information? I was sitting in Boston Pizza today with my kids and I happened to look at my phone. There was a notice, from Google, that announced to me that I was at Boston Pizza. It also offered me the option to look at the menu and read reviews for that particular location.
Okay … don’t judge me for being at Boston Pizza for lunch (sometimes you feel like pizza, right?). The thing is, this huge company knew exactly where I was and it thought that offering me options to learn more about it would make me happy with their service. My 16-year-old son didn’t like it. I think his words were, “And you don’t do anything about that?” Somehow, I, the privacy lawyer, was supposed to curtail this particular activity.
Me? I wasn’t particularly disturbed. Why the difference? After all, it’s the younger generation that isn’t supposed to care about privacy the way we do, right? Is it because I’m comfortable knowing a bit about the legal landscape Google is operating in? Maybe it’s because I’ve taken the time to read their privacy policies and I’m OK with the trade-off: Their services don’t cost me anything in monetary terms, just PII. Maybe I've gotten used to some stuff that I shouldn't. Maybe it’s my son’s inherent distrust (being 16 and all) of anything established. Maybe it’s all those things.
When do you get creeped out when it comes to tracking? Speaking of which, happy Halloween weekend!
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