Nothing has changed today except that marketing is much more powerful in that they are extremely adept at collecting your private information without making it seem that you are telling them a lot of stuff you should not.
One of the scams today is packaged with legitimate efforts to improve services. I will not name any companies doing this, but you can see what I call data mining in many places. All of these are disguised as being something beneficial to you, the consumer. There are opinion surveys, contests, insurance quotes, etc. To enter the contest, claim a prize, or get an insurance quote you have to log on to the internet. Invariably you have to provide personal information before you can get what you are after.
I changed my mind. Here is a slip of paper that all customers can get when they go to the cash register at Extra Foods, one of the Loblaw group of companies. The private data mining scam is disguised as an invitation to give them your opinion about your shopping experience so they can improve their services for you while at the same time you can possibly win some money. It is a bribe. The odds of you winning are extremely remote. They are, in fact, zero. (I have no doubt that the one lucky person will be too busy spending his 2 dollar prize money to take issue with that statement). Here is a scan of the slip of paper I have used as an example:
I don’t mean to pick on this particular company specifically. It is just an example.
My advice to you is: Do not do it. If you doubt what might happen to your information, carefully read the privacy policy. If you do not understand the privacy policy, or if you need a lawyer to interpret it, you can bet you are kissing your personal information goodbye in the sense that you lose control of whatever it is you tell them.
I repeat: Do not give any personal information online or anywhere else unless it is absolutely necessary and you are not concerned about losing control of your information.
As for me, although I never enter these contests and although I do not usually cooperate with these data mining schemes, I do not care one iota who knows what about me. Because I kissed my privacy goodbye a long time ago.