The researchers believed that the ease of “microtargeting” campaigns to specific user data accounted for the fact that 96,000 of the companies listed were only targeting one of the volunteers.
One person, being tracked by at least 96,000 companies. WTF?
A good reminder that privacy may only exist now because the sheer volume of information is so large that it provides anonymity through overload.
Nothing really too weird about that. A countries entire infrastructure is run by millions of people just for each individual to live through society.
Last time i checked neither my water company, nor my electricity company, nor the supermarkets where i buy food, had followed me around or inquired about more than what was necessary to exchange goods for money.
I saw a Youtube video a while ago on how supermarket chains create customer profiles for each credit card. That way, they can get a better understanding of purchasing habits and how consumers react to price changes. Makes finding the most profitable price easy, you see.
