I feel the same way, but employers aren't going to tell you they're digging into your personal life or why you were turned down for the job. You just get ghosted. The problem isn't limited to employers either. It could be a landlord, or a bank. Part of the problem is that you aren't allowed to know when it's happening which makes it hard to avoid.
> If you want to frame advertising as manipulation, then I suppose so. Personally I don't see it that way.
Ads can be informative, but when was last time you saw an ad that wasn't in some way manipulative? If you can't even see that it's happening, you're likely more susceptible to the effects, but even you know it's happening you're still influenced by manipulation. We all are. Ads are carefully designed to exploit flaws in our brains. Ad companies have spent massive amounts of money and research to maximize the effects, even experimenting on children to learn things like how early a child can recognize a brand.
> I'll happily wear that risk. I greatly prefer it to the alternative, which is the guaranteed suffering which results from being obsessively paranoid.
You know what the say, it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you. The examples I gave of the harms that can result from abuse of your personal data are based on things that have already happened. People might be happier if they are blissfully ignorant or can convince themselves to ignore what's going on, but I feel better if I take some simple steps to avoid potential harms and stay aware of what's happening in the world. It's pretty easy to just not buy a car that collects your location 24/7 and even easier to avoid giving that data to unnecessary apps.
