Online privacy conspiracy theorists lack credibility because it is difficult to distinguish them from being Google and Facebook trolls or Gish Gallopers. Name a conspiracy theorist that proves theory with scientific fact. Wiki leaks are not conspiracy theorists, they are journalists. Edward Snowden made a big splash with his revelations. Unfortunately, he is not on the inside anymore, so most of his new claims cannot be substantiated and remain speculation. Michael Moore is entertaining, but you cannot take anything as fact. I must say his movies come over strong and are thought-provoking.

Obviously, online privacy is essential to everyone. Nobody likes a peeping tom. But a peeping tom does not use the information to make money from you. The level at which Google, Facebook, Twitter and the other do it borders on extortion. Just imagine a peeping tom watching you day and night and then sells you the right products you need during your daily activities. That would horrify you, well, Google, Facebook and others do exactly that. Strangely enough, we stay on Facebook and keep our Gmail accounts.

Nothing is for free. Once you join Google and Facebook, you become the product. Once you watch The Hated One, Rob Braxman and DistroTube you are entering their platform of subtle marketing. They will coerce you and convince you of their viewpoint to sell you their affiliate marketing schemes. These monetizing YouTubers are not there for altruistic opinions, they are there to make a living. Their convincing presentations lure us just like Google and Facebooks advertising campaigns. If these conspiracy theorists uttered one incriminating fact, they would be banned from the platform they operate on.

Claiming that targeting marketing is withholding potential customers from buying a product is ludicrous. You are misinforming your subscriber base to get mindless followers that are baseless conspiracy theorists. Stop fogging your arguments with useless facts that bear no relation to the case.

I believe in online privacy and know Facebook & Google use our information on their platforms to make money. That is why the platforms exist, not to entertain you, but to make money from you. Zuckerberg admitted it in a congressional hearing. Targeted marketing is not new (a better word is market segmentation), it’s done since marketing was invented. Data mining was big business from the 1950s to catalogue us and our habits to market products efficiently and effectively. It is a waste of money to market products on a platform where it’s users don’t see it. Don’t blame the advertisers of conspiring and leaving people out to opportunities that they cannot afford in any way.

I have to admit Target’s method of advertising based on your purchases is creepy. Still, it is no different what other companies do. It is no different what you see when you use Google search, all the ads are based on your search history and preferences. Target, Makro and other similar card-based companies will track your age, income (based on your job and hobby) movement, etc., to maximize marketing strategy and sales. Predicting if a girl is pregnant based on her purchases is not sinister, it’s based on probabilities and historical data.

If you are concerned about your privacy and how your online data is used follow Rob Braxman’s advice in his YouTube video How to Stop your Phone from Tracking You. For starters ditch Gmail except for a Youtube account. If you don’t use it for daily emails, tracking you is useless. Don’t use your real name, use an alias. It is a simple solution and effective.

To obtain credibility, online privacy conspiracy theorists must tell us exactly HOW the data is accumulated. To WHOM it is sold and HOW it is used. If during the process, you are banned from the platform you use to communicate your information, you will not be seen as a truther (There is always lbry.tv). I believe we need more YouTubers like spreading the word around, but we also need more facts about how it’s done. Don’t speculate how Facebook is using Whatsapp to gather data, we know they do, tell us HOW it’s done. Show us how the data is transferred from your phone or web app and used. Stop stating the obvious, nobody gets banned that way.

The real culprits that we must investigate are Acxiom, Nielsen, Experian, Equifax, CoreLogic. These are just a few known companies.

Who knows how many companies operate outside the US & EU, so they don’t have to disclose any information they collect from us.