Online Privacy Shouldn't Be So Much Effort and So Expensive

Commentary: Protecting your personal data often requires more time, energy and money than the average person might be able to invest.

4 min read

I recently signed up for a service and was greeted with the usual requests for access to my location, contacts, camera and microphone. Later, I went back to see what I'd actually agreed to and spent more time digging through privacy settings than using the service itself.

That experience felt representative of the problem with privacy today. Most people just want some control over their personal information, instead of sending it to data brokers across the internet.

But maintaining that control usually takes money or a good deal of effort. Sometimes both. It's a frustrating reality for people who are increasingly forced online, but there are also small steps you can take to start bolstering your digital privacy.

Privacy often takes an unavoidable back seat...

Copyright of this story solely belongs to cnet.com. To see the full text click HERE