Opting Out

I wish there was a way to opt out of our massive consumer culture without opting out of civilization altogether.  Does Amazon.com know how utterly creepy it is to find spam email trying to sell me something I casually looked at on another site??  It's truly a major invasion of privacy.

I use a VPN.  I clean tracking software every time I use my browser.  And yet somehow, despite my not inconsiderable precautions, after a brief respite of peace, I find new ads and spam in my inbox because somebody somewhere has figured out a new way to do an end run around my privacy barrier.

Since Amazon and the others apparently have their bots look at everything I do, let me say this:  LEAVE ME ALONE.  Your algorithms suck.  You have never successfully shown me something I am interested in, and never successfully extrapolated something I might like to buy.  Never.  Not once.  Your creepy-assed intrusions make me LESS likely to purchase anything from you, not more likely.

I am, sadly, still maintaining a Facebook account.  As I explained once before, part of my duties as the recording secretary for the board of a small local choral group includes updating and monitoring our Facebook page, and you can't be an admin on a page there without an account.  (I can't wait until it's somebody else's job.) For all their recent ads on how they're going to better, I can tell you that Facebook is full of shit.  I still see pop-up ads for products I looked at elsewhere -- on a page for a non-profit community choral group! -- and Facebook itself nags me on a daily basis for money to boost our posts and our likes.  We don't NEED 1,200 more views and likes.  We're not growing a business.  All we need is to have  single place to remind 40 people that we have a rehearsal on Monday.  Facebook knows this.  They still send me daily notifications, and I have to check all of them out on the unlikely chance that it's one or our members or fans with an actual question.  When I do, it's a noodge from Facebook reminding me that my readers haven't heard from me in "a while."  (Usually this comes in 24 hours after a post.)

I don't NEED to spam our members or our fans.  I don't NEED to access their contacts so that we can spam those people.  We don't need to spam anyone.  I want to be part of the chorus that people want to come listen to, not one that people curse at because we're filling their inboxes with bullshit.

Internet, go back to being a public utility.  It's what you do best.  The power company doesn't nag me to buy more light bulbs, and the phone company doesn't nag me to put an extension line in every room of my home.  Take a page from them, and leave me the Hell alone.