You may have heard recently about critical changes to internet privacy. Basically, rules that previously prevented internet providers from selling your browsing history and data are being repealed.

Previously companies needed to obtain your explicit consent before selling this data to third parties. This is no longer the case. That pesky federal regulation acting in our best interest is gone.

You can read more about the nitty-gritty and and how this could impact future events on Gizmodo.

That article's author, Libby Watson, raises good points. For instance, if ISP's (internet service providers) are going to sell your data, they have to store it first. That seems like a pretty juicy target for criminal hackers.

It's not like companies have not been doing this already, but these repeals don't instill more confidence for future trends. Your data is increasingly being seen as another market commodity.

So here we are. What else can we feeble consumers do?

My old boss actually gave me a handy tip last week:

When you sign up for web services, add the name of the service to your account name.

For example, Spotify would know me as Peterspotify Mulroe. Not your billing address, that should be correct. But your account name can be practically anything.

Now if you get junk-mail you'll actually know where it's coming from.

Consumerism is kind of like democracy; we just vote with dollars instead of ballots.

Knowing which organizations prioritize the long-term interests of their customers is important. Put your money towards products and services work for you, not the other way around.

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