The war on our personal data and privacy can feel a little like tossing pails of water out of a sinking ship. While we will continue to do our best to keep the ship afloat, younger generations (in fact, all generations) need help from industry leaders, governments and educators to provide a greater focus to improving digital literacy so that as a society, we don’t continue to build boats with holes in them.

AdBlockers can be a great tool for improving your overall online browsing experience by blocking (or perhaps more accurately, limiting) the number of advertisements you see online each day. Which brings up an interesting question – do you know (on average) how many advertisements you see a day online?

It happens to us everyday. Right under (or more accurately; in-front of) our noses. If you use the internet, chances are you have been subjected to an algorithm using your personal data, browsing history and online activity to select the content you see and drive your overall online experience. If you’re at a loss for what you can do about it, don’t worry; you’re not alone. 

It’s 2022, and while early evidence suggests there’s a lot of things not new about this year (cough… Covid…cough) there’s still a chance to make new changes to enhance your online privacy!

Microsoft has just announced that it has turned to something called “zero-party data” to “promote trust and relevancy in advertising”. Well, the notion of what they are trying to achieve is certainly a solid one, but how does it really stand up against the billing? 

As the drive for online privacy increases prevalence, so does the noise from those selling solutions. And this selling is happening in increasingly frontline places. For example a Virtual Private Network (VPN) solution was the front line sponsor on all the pitch-side hoardings at a recent Premier League football game in the UK. On the surface this is great – everyone gets more exposure to solutions that help protect them online. But what actually is the solution for privacy? Is it one thing? For many people it might just be the last advert they saw. While advertising can help raise awareness, it’s not easy to navigate the myriad of options emerging in the nascent privacy technology (“PrivTech”) world.