No one is hiding somewhere watching you, but machines are collecting, storing and processing your data – and thats so much more efficient.
Every day, we generate thousands of data points about ourselves—where we go, what we buy, who we talk to, even how we feel. Individually, these breadcrumbs might seem innocent but throughout an average day, they create something far more revealing, they create a rich story of how you live – this is your pattern of life.
You may think that this historical archive of your ever movement, activity, communication, transaction – even biometrics you are not conscious of, like your heartbeat, stress levels – is fine, who cares where I’ve been and what I’ve done? I’ve got nothing to hide.
That’s cool, and there’s nothing wrong with that, such granular data about your past makes it incredibly easy to predict your future. Which I think is more concerning.
The Data You deliberately share
Let’s start with the obvious. That morning run you posted to Strava? It doesn’t just show your 5K time, pace, heart rate and where you went. It reveals when you leave your house, your regular routes, where you live, where you work, and even when you’re away on vacation.
In 2018, Strava’s global heatmap accidentally exposed secret military base locations because soldiers were tracking their runs.
MyFitnessPal knows every meal you’ve eaten, your health and fitness goals and the progress you’r making towards them.
Period tracking apps like Lively and Clue know intimate details about their customer’s reproductive health, libido, sexual activity, how you may be feeling – even what you should eat at certain points in your cycle.
Platforms like Spotify and Apple Musicnknows whether you’ve been listening to sad songs or upbeat playlists—essentially mapping your emotional state throughout the day.
Audiobook platforms, everyone has them (Audible/Amazon, Apple, Google and Spotify) could take a good guess about your fields of interest, and your level of expertise, interest or aspirations on those topics – if you add notes to books you’re reading, then thats just more valuable data.
Your smart watch tracks your heart rate variability, sleep patterns, and stress levels.
Smart doorbells, such as Ring (Amazon) and home CCTV with cloud storage record when you leave and return home, who you’re with, and how you start and end your journeys.
Food delivery apps like Just Eat, Uber Eats and Deliveroo know your eating schedule, dietary preferences, and whether you tend to order alone or for groups.
These are services you signed up for, apps you choose to use and therefore you’re making a conscious trade off of privacy for convenience and whatever other incentive the platform builds in to maintain engagement.
What about those that are still consensual, but are less deliberate.
The Data you agreed to share
Many have highlighted the issue with the almost automatic way we accept the terms and conditions of popular technology providers.
When you clicked “Accept” on those terms and conditions you didn’t read, you likely agreed to far more tracking than you realize. Let’s see what we’re dealing with..
Every time you log into a service, it records your location, device, IP address, and timestamp. Google and Facebook track you across millions of websites through embedded buttons and analytics code—even on sites you never log into.
Similar information is gathered from your email provider as your phone, tablet, laptop, watch, glasses, fridge logs in to check your emails – this is a fantastic source of information as it happens silently from your pocket or bag without you asking.
It’s also quite likely your email provider might be the same organisation who store, process and sell a lot of your other data – which is super convenient.. for them.
As I write this on my Apple IPad, the mail app will be polling Google, Apple and Microsoft can track exactly where I am and the status of the many mailboxes I for some reason need.
Let’s go shopping:
WiFi and Bluetooth beacons in stores and shopping centres track your movement through physical spaces, noting which aisles you linger in, even if you never make a purchase.
Your credit card company and banks knows where you shop, how much you spend, and can predict major life events (moving, having a baby, getting divorced) before you announce them.
Loyalty cards link every purchase to an identitym your identity—that “anonymous” shopping data isn’t anonymous at all.
On the move?
Your car’s onboard systems track everywhere you drive. Some smarter automobiles are aware of where you’re going to go next, the route you’ll likely take, where you will stop to refuel, when you’ll arrive and even how tired you are when you arrive.
While you may be able to trust your secrets with your classic car, ANPR data is collected at every corner about your movements.
Tickets to public transport are mostly digital now, with many major transport networks not even requiring a ticket by allowing you to just tap your card of phone to pay to travel – as always this additional convenience comes at a cost, because now you have a duplicate record of this journey with 2 different organisations.
Our smart devices have made this so easy, sometimes mandatory to your life.
Behind the scenes
Then there’s the data you never explicitly agreed to share.
Data brokers like Acxiom and Experian aggregate information from public records, online activity, purchases, and hundreds of other sources to build comprehensive profiles. They know your political affiliation, income bracket, health conditions, and consumer behaviour—and they sell this information.
Browser fingerprinting tracks you without cookies by creating a unique identifier from your device characteristics, screen resolution, installed fonts, and browsing habits. Cross-device tracking links your phone, tablet, and laptop activity, even if you never log in.
Perhaps most unsettling: shadow profiles, Meta’s Facebook and others build profiles on people who never signed up by scraping contact lists, tags in photos, and mentions in messages.
Ok, you’ve got my data. But are you listening to me too?
This week my wife and I discussed something in person quite obscure and specific while on holiday, so out of earshot of the devices, like smart speakers, we know are listening. We do not remember an instance where either of us engaged with our phones, tablets etc – we can find no mention of this subject in our emails or messages – yet the next day, she was pushed content on this subject. Spooky!
The major tech companies deny actively listening through microphones, so what could have happened here?
Algorithms.
You hear a lot about algorithms, and for good reason, they’re pretty cool. They have also become so sophisticated that they can predict what you’ll want before you know you want it. If your friend searches for camping gear, and you’re in their contact list, you might see camping ads. If you visited a store (tracked via location), you’ll see ads for that store. The targeting is so precise it feels like eavesdropping.
Some researchers have found evidence of apps accessing microphones when not in use, though this is thought to be the exception. Until it’s not!
The Bigger, or Aggregated, Picture
When aggregated or linked, this data doesn’t just track where you’ve been—it predicts where you’ll go, even before you’ve decided yourself.
It knows your daily routine down to the minute. It knows who you talk to, who you listen to, who influences your decisions and who’s depictions you influence (which is important if if you think of the potential for widespread amplification of a thought).
It can reveal your income, health conditions, relationships with people, contractural agreements, and political beliefs. It knows when you’re happy, stressed, or vulnerable to marketing.
This is pattern of life data. It’s used by marketers, insurance companies, employers, law enforcement, and foreign intelligence services and it is generally the reason they are providing you a service which seems incredible, for nothing.
StuC.blog 