Had to choose between selling my location data or paying for a weather app

I got hit with a choice last month from my weather app - fork over $4.99 a month or let them sell my GPS coordinates to third parties. I figured hey, it's just weather data, what's the harm? Two weeks later I started getting ads for windshield replacement companies, roofers, and flood insurance. They apparently cross-referenced my location with storm patterns. I deleted the app and went back to the default phone weather widget. Anyone else get burned by a "free" app that turned out to cost way more than money?

3 comments

3 Comments

susansingh1mo ago

That's exactly how they get you - nickel and dime you for your privacy until suddenly every online ad knows where you slept last night. It's just another way we've traded convenience for being treated like a product instead of a customer.

hugos461mo ago

Oh absolutely @susansingh, I hit that wall hard last month. I use a couple of burner email addresses now for any random signup and it's cut down the tracking junk a ton. Also started using a browser extension that blocks the creepy tracking scripts, makes sites load faster too. The free tier of a VPN lets you pick a different city each time you open it. Takes like 5 minutes to set up once and then you forget about it.

smith.nancy1mo ago

Honestly that's wild, @hugos46 I can't believe they actually cross-referenced storm patterns with your location. That's next level creepy. Like imagine if you got caught in a hailstorm and then suddenly your phone is screaming windshield ads at you. Reminds me of that time I opened a flash sale email and two minutes later got an ad for the same exact toaster I was looking at. Makes you wonder what other data they're cobbling together about us.