There is an old quip, apparently originating with the disgraced U.S. president Richard Nixon, that even paranoid people have enemies. He certainly would have known for he was an extremely paranoid man.

Yet we do have enemies who wish to do us harm and nowhere is this truer than when it comes to our privacy with computers and data. Here is it not just ok to be paranoid, but is actually necessary.

In fact, we should be very paranoid about the number of companies that are tracking our every online move, logging our phone calls, text messages, email, and a lot more. Remember when we used to say “I don’t do anything wrong online so I don’t have anything to worry about?” Sadly, those days are long past. In this new era data is king and companies are out to get it any way they can—privacy be dammed.

A few months ago, a friend piqued my interest in this topic with some interesting phrases: Data mining, data oceans, and data brokering. Our lives are technologically different than they were just five years ago and when it comes to personal privacy the news is grim. I wish there were hope at the end of this story and maybe one day there will be, but at the moment we find ourselves in a very vulnerable spot in our fight against those who want to profit from our data.

Most of us want to be in that “Goldilocks” area of “just the right amount” when it comes to on-line use. We want to be able to work, communicate, and enjoy some entertainment. We don’t want to totally live online however, and we certainly want to minimize our exposure to hackers, privacy pirates, and the like. Yet hiding from the bad guys is getting harder no matter what we do and no matter how innocent we think our online behavior might be.

Even those who never venture into the world of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and the endless Google apps are in for a rude surprise. Studies show that even if one is extremely careful, it is nearly impossible not to have an online profile. It is even harder to go totally “off the grid” should one wish.

I read a recent report from an IT expert who, just as an exercise, wanted to see if he could escape his past and recreate a new identity that was free from all his previous online life. He found that it is practically impossible for such a step would involve never seeing family, friends, or colleagues again in addition to all the other inconveniences of getting a new Social Security number, driver’s license, and the rest. We have too many footprints in the electronic “snow” just to disappear.

As an example, he suggested that we think of how many people have our names and numbers stored in their phone’s contact list. You might not use a smartphone, but there is enough data about you in other people’s address books to allow a good data miner to zero in on you. Now add in the corporate and governmental agencies that have info about you—you pay taxes, own a home, have a car loan, receive a newsletter from your school, etc. All this means that your name is floating out there in a sea of private and public data.

Now you might protest and say “I have checked what information these data miners have on me at it is completely wrong!” “They show me as a member of a wine society and I do not drink.” “They say I have five children but only have two.” “They say I bought concert tickets online last year but I have never been to a concert so I am not worried as they just don’t know me!”

It is true, I will admit, that there are lots of inaccuracies about us floating around in the data oceans, but the reality is that the data miners, armed with their automated bots (programs), are constantly refining their data sets. They get better each day and so while they might not have an exact profile of you today, check in next year to see the progress they have made.

Experts rightfully argue that we are our own worst enemy by freely giving away our most personal of information. True, we frequently get careless, but at the same time companies demand more and more info just to use their products. This is a particularly Orwellian situation in that we pay a company for a product but then have to give up not only our money but also our privacy in order to use it.

All too often we don’t even put up a fight. We do not check the privacy settings on our computers or software for example.

We fail to notice the things that apps want to access when we download them to our phones—such as when an alarm clock app wants entry into our contact lists, camera, microphone, and files. Why does it need access to all that? Yet we gladly click “Agree” anyway because either we do not realize the dangers or we just want to use the app. And don’t think this is an Apple versus Windows versus Android thing—it is every phone and computer!

Have you ever read the End User License Agreements (EULAs) that come with a new computer phone, or gadget? No…nor have I. We think this is just harmless legal language and we believe that free apps are just that—free. This, however, is where trouble starts. These apps are not free of course so where is the cost? Well, quite simply the cost is our privacy and data—data that is then sold with reckless abandon to advertisers, corporations, data collectors, and even governments all over the world. Google and Facebook are nothing more, when you look under the hood, than advertising companies. Sure, they doll it all up with translation programs, maps, cloud storage and the rest, but the way they generate their massive incomes it is based on advertising and you and me are the target.

It is impossible to get away from these intrusions. When I recently purchased a new Samsung phone, I had to use my Google account to start it since the phone runs Google’s Android operating system. What if I did not have a Google account? Tough luck—I would have had to set one up. Now a real tech expert might be able to get around this, but for 99.9% of us Google has their tenterhooks in us before we get the phone to work! Why is it that we now have to be a lawyer or tech expert just to use a phone and a laptop?

I used to think I could outwit the data collectors. I used to turn off my GPS/location unless I needed it, but I discovered that even this step is in vain. Look at the demo on this site ip2location.com to see that your location is, in a general sense, already known through your IP address. Some U.S. telecoms have even installed “super cookies” to help track you. They then sell access to those cookies to 3rd party commercial interests. Yes, it really is that bad that you own Internet Service Provider (ISP) or phone company is selling location and preference data about you.

Worse, you are even being tracked when your phone is just by your bedside at night apparently not doing anything. Trackers and bots are even then as busy as a bee hoovering up data from the apps that are on your phone. I would strongly encourage you to read this article: Data from Phones. Although it pertains mainly to iPhones, I am sure it is true for all makes and models. Prepare to be frightened!

We, dear readers, are now a data product. A product for which companies will pay to learn everything they can about. Don’t fall for their sweet promises that they “anonymize your profile before they pass along data.” Although they technically might not be lying, they should not be trusted.

How good are these data collectors? Well, even Facebook itself has purchased tons of consumer data from them. I know I am giving you a lot to read, but this article The power of data brokers describes the width and breadth of power that these data miners and brokers have: Think of it, if even Facebook buys data from these brokers then you know they are uncovering commercially valuable information about you.

What can be done? While I would hope that a collective movement by the public could force lawmakers to intervene, the reality is somewhat different. Consider how many spam calls you receive on your cell phone. Just putting a stop to that has been difficult and data mining is much more pervasive and intrusive. Solving the problem is not going to happen anytime soon.