Ever since the first caveman invented fire and some other caveman tried to benefit from it, people have been trying to monetize others’ information.

Okay, so maybe that’s a bit too far back. Truth be told, we don’t have to look that far back at all to see how badly companies want your data. And they want it bad.

Shady information-gathering techniques have been the go-to for big business in the last decade. While focus groups offering a chance at a free car in exchange for your specific information aren’t necessarily gone, they have been replaced by companies in search of the marketer’s holy grail: demographic information. A few years ago a national five-star hotel chain came under fire for guests paying to stay at their facilities found that after joining the hotels’ WiFi network, they were being served advertisements. Those ads served as a revenue stream for the hotel chain, meaning they not only got paid from their guests’ wallets, they got paid from their guests’ information.

Social media outlets have been another bad offender, with sites like still-popular Facebook serving as a data miner’s playground. Targeted ads on the site exist from the direct tracking of online behavior and the free sharing individuals do with their personal information online.

One minute you’re entering in that you like Tropic Thunder, the next minute you’re getting ads on the side of your screen offering to show you the next Ben Stiller movie. And the whole time the site is being paid by marketing companies for your demographic information, even if it’s something as banal as a book you read in high school.

In times where it’s not just probably but likely that your online privacy is at risk, it’s important to look to anonymous browsing services like VPN Zoom. Utilizing the service will help ensure that your data – from extremely sensitive information like passwords to public information like when you read To Kill A Mockingbird, or even what sites you look at while at a hotel – is safe, kept private, and in good hands.