Ep 26 - The 4 Things Hackers Want Most (And How to Protect Your Data)

Every time you download a free app, accept terms and conditions, or search online, someone is building a profile on you, and most people have no idea how detailed that profile really is.

In this episode, Rich sits down with Jammie, founder of TechInHerStep and one of the leading voices in digital privacy education, to break down what's actually happening to your data, and what you can do about it starting today.

You'll learn:

• Why deleting an app doesn't delete your data
• How companies use your digital profile to charge you more than your neighbor for the same product
• The 4 things you need to protect most, and the simple tools to do it
• Why privacy isn't about hiding, it's about taking back control

If you've ever wondered why your phone seems to know exactly what you were just thinking about, this episode will finally explain it.

Listen now and share it with someone you love.

Filmed and recorded at Studio on the Avenue/LMC Media
Mamaroneck, NY
https://lmcmedia.org/
Produced and Edited by Vekterly
https://www.vekterly.com/

Disclaimer: This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be considered as financial advice, a recommendation for any specific investment, strategy, or financial decision, or legal advice. By engaging with this material, you acknowledge and agree with its intended purpose. Any examples provided are hypothetical and for illustration purposes only. Neither Rich Leimgruber, the EnRich Your Life Podcast, nor its representatives are advising or suggesting any specific action or decision. Before making any financial, legal, or tax decisions, individuals should consult their own financial advisor, accountant, legal professional, or other qualified professional before making financial decisions. All opinions expressed are those of the host and guests and do not reflect the views of any affiliated financial institutions. The views shared may not be suitable for every individual or situation. Past performance is not indicative of future results, and all investments carry risk. Please note that any strategies discussed may not be suitable for all investors, and the appropriateness of any specific investment or strategy will depend on individual circumstances.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Speaker: This is Enrich Your Life, a podcast about financial health, all things investing, life planning, and smart decisions with Richard Leimgruber.

[00:00:11] Rich L: Hello and welcome to Enrich Your Life, where we discuss financial strategies for growth, but also protection. I'm Rich Leimgruber by trade. I'm a financial advisor, and on this podcast I'm your host. As we can all agree, technology has been. Woven into every part of our lives, our personal lives, family lives, financial lives, and even our medical lives.

[00:00:37] Whether it's you're on your phone, on your computer, on your laptop, or anytime you use artificial intelligence, you probably agree to terms and conditions, but what are you really agreeing to? Data, privacy and security is no longer just a tech issue. It's a life issue. Most people don't even realize what they're giving up when they agree to [00:01:00] the terms or download new applications on their quote, smartphones.

[00:01:05] Today we will be speaking with someone I know very well my wife, Jammie Leimgruber, who is the founder of TechInHerStep, a tech educated brand focused on helping every day people navigate modern technology, understand online privacy, and set healthier digital boundaries without giving up the convenience that tech brings.

[00:01:30] Her social media presence across the all the major platforms offers technology, tools to provide rules and help grownups stay savvy, not fooled. Welcome, Jammie to the EnRich Your Life podcast. Thanks for joining me. 

[00:01:46] Jammie: Well, thank you so much for having me. This is actually quite the treat, a very interesting one, but I'm very happy to be here.

[00:01:55] Rich L: Yeah, you're usually on the other side helping me produce this podcast, so 

[00:01:58] Jammie: Jammie, you didn't [00:02:00] start out in privacy or tech education, but you certainly hit a nerve in a lot of different areas and everyone. Is obviously interested in listening to what you have to say. Tech In Her Step now reaches nearly 90,000 people or followers across TikTok and Instagram.

[00:02:19] Rich L: Congratulations. I'm very proud of you for doing that. That's amazing. tell us how'd you get there? How did you do it? 

[00:02:25] Jammie: Well, I actually started out in corporate retail. I was in corporate retail for about 17 years, and mainly in analytical jobs. But all throughout, I always happened to align myself with particular tech, projects and just felt very comfortable in that.

[00:02:45] after those 17 years, I left and went to a marketing and technology agency, and, that's exactly where I discovered. A lot about what I talk about today. So [00:03:00] in my marketing and technology role, I actually became the bridge between very technical teams like developers and engineers, and I helped bridge the communication to.

[00:03:14] Business owners. So I took very technical, strategies and specs and translated those to those business owners in a format that they could understand, that anybody could understand. 

[00:03:28] Rich L: There's a, a common phrase that we use in our business, which is keep it simple, stupid kiss, right? Make it easy, dumb it down so that anybody can understand it.

[00:03:38] Jammie: definitely needed to keep it simple, but at the same time, the challenge is making sure that the essence of what you're trying to achieve gets translated to that team, to that person, 

[00:03:53] Rich L: other very interesting thing that I came across was. In my role there, [00:04:00] I happened to be involved in purchasing millions and millions of dollars in digital ads across the major platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Google, you name it.

[00:04:11] Jammie: And, that's where I found out how data hungry these platforms are and how much information everybody is giving up every single day 

[00:04:25] Rich L: without even knowing it. 

[00:04:26] Jammie: Without realizing it. 

[00:04:28] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:04:28] Jammie: Yes. Right. And it, it was, it's been an interesting journey because I was on the side of, you know, those ads that you get in your Facebook feed?

[00:04:37] I was buying space there, and now I'm actually on the other side and talking about why maybe you shouldn't be, giving up, all your digital, life to these platforms. 

[00:04:50] Rich L: So let's talk about how you're helping your followers. You would think that when someone asks you about online privacy, the, the correct [00:05:00] answer would be secrecy, right? 

[00:05:02] If privacy secrecy. But it's not about hiding, is it? No. What is it really about? 

[00:05:07] Jammie: a lot of times people, whenever you talk about online privacy. a lot of people come back and say, well, what do you have to hide what secrets? And it's not about hiding, it's not about secrets. Like you said, it's actually about setting digital boundaries with all the information that these companies are collecting freely.

[00:05:31] That you're giving up every single day. 

[00:05:33] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:05:34] Jammie: So it's learning what those digital boundaries are, becoming aware of them and taking back some of that control. Because a lot of the times what's happening, and especially here in the United States, we live in a country where the default for us is.

[00:05:51] Opted in. We're opted in to a lot of this data collection and a lot of the times individuals. First of all, don't [00:06:00] realize that. And they're not reading privacy policies. They're not reading terms and conditions. 

[00:06:06] Rich L: Right. 

[00:06:06] Jammie: You know? Yeah. So they just want the convenience aspect when it comes to technology.

[00:06:12] Rich L: Right. And it's, it's right now. Right. And I, and I think of the times where, you know, I walk in and it says, oh, you know, you want a. 10% off your first order, download this app. And I'm like, oh, why wouldn't I just download this app and before I actually finish downloading, it's gonna ask me to agree to the terms and condition.

[00:06:30] I just want my 10% off the my food order. So I'm gonna say, yep, sure, why not? As long as I'm getting that 10% off. Right? So I think, you know, when we, when we think about what terms and conditions are and who's actually creating them. Most likely, it's a company's attorneys who are making sure that the company that you're signing up for has the rights and has all the, all, all the, you know, protections for that company.

[00:06:55] But very often we don't actually read through it. Right. [00:07:00] And we just sign off on it and accept those terms and conditions. Well, 

[00:07:02] Jammie: how many times have you read terms and conditions? 

[00:07:05] Rich L: Never. Never. Don't tell anybody, but never. Yeah. 

[00:07:07] Jammie: In 

[00:07:08] Rich L: case anybody's listening, right? Yeah. So. Are those disclosures also protecting the user as much as the company who's asking you to sign off on them?

[00:07:17] Jammie: Bottom line is, no, not right now. Especially not in the US. Okay. these companies, they're, they, they set out to make money. They don't set out to protect your data. 

[00:07:26] Rich L: Right, 

[00:07:27] Jammie: right. So that's their main goal, making money and the users, their customers, they're secondary to that. 

[00:07:35] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:07:35] Jammie: And like I said, they give up this information to get that 10% off because you are right there standing in the store, standing in the shop, and you wanna take advantage of that.

[00:07:46] Mm-hmm. And oftentimes what happens is it's probably a one-time thing. You download their app, it's a one time thing, and then you probably, there are times where you don't come back to that business ever again, [00:08:00] but that app stays in your phone. And as long as that app stays in your phone and the permissions are turned on for them to collect information, they can, they can collect information, 

[00:08:10] Rich L: even though it has nothing to do with the store or anything that I've purchased wi within them.

[00:08:14] Jammie: Right, right, right. So if we're, you know, talking about these permissions, a lot of these apps that people are downloading, for example, these game apps, puzzle apps, right? 

[00:08:23] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:08:24] Jammie: When you're accepting, when you're downloading and accepting this right, you're also giving permissions to things like your, microphone, your photos.

[00:08:35] Why would a puzzle game need access to your photos? Why would they need access to your microphone? Mm-hmm. Right. So what's happening is there's a collection there of data, and a lot of these apps are collecting that data and either sharing it. Or selling it. 

[00:08:54] Rich L: Okay. The one of the things I hear sometimes is like, well, I have an iPhone.

[00:08:57] An iPhone does a really good job protecting [00:09:00] me. I, I don't know about, you know, a Google phone or all the other Androids, Android that are out there. Mm-hmm. Is there a, is there a real difference between having an iPhone and an Android phone? 

[00:09:10] Jammie: Ooh, that's a loaded question. Um, there is, in my opinion, there are some nuances to that, but.

[00:09:20] In essence, the apps that live on your iPhone can also live on somebody's Android phone. 

[00:09:27] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:09:27] Jammie: Right. They're the same app. They wanna collect the same amount of information as long as they're legitimate apps and they're not breaking any rules, they're collecting all of that across both devices. Right. The main difference here that I wanna point out is that.

[00:09:46] With Apple. Apple is collecting information, across everything that you do, right on your, on your iPhone, believe it or not, and they're using that. It's their platform. They're using that, but [00:10:00] they're not necessarily selling that or sharing that with third parties. 

[00:10:05] Rich L: Okay? 

[00:10:06] Jammie: Now, if we talk about Android, who owns Android?

[00:10:09] Um, 

[00:10:10] Rich L: I don't know who owns Android, Jammie. 

[00:10:12] Jammie: Well, Google developed Android. Yeah. And it's actually an open source platform that anybody can take and adopt to their own, platform. But Android comes from Google. Google in essence is an advertising company. 

[00:10:30] Rich L: Yeah, we all know that. Yeah. 

[00:10:30] Jammie: So they collect a lot of information.

[00:10:33] They use that information to make money. And just recently, I think Google surpassed Apple, right? Mm-hmm. They're in the trillions of dollars as far as 

[00:10:44] Rich L: it was actually last year. I believe it was the most profitable company in the, in the world. Cool. So 

[00:10:49] Jammie: what does that tell you about your data? 

[00:10:51] Rich L: Yeah, 

[00:10:52] Jammie: it's valuable to them.

[00:10:53] Rich L: Sure. 

[00:10:53] Jammie: Right. Yeah. And here you are giving it up in a matter of seconds for that app to get [00:11:00] 10%. 

[00:11:00] Rich L: Yeah. Or, or to play that game, right, 

[00:11:02] Jammie: or to play that puzzle game. Yeah. 

[00:11:03] Rich L: So when you think about privacy and security, oftentimes you're provided with all the benefits. Hey, sign up for this and get this right. But.

[00:11:11] For any kind of new product or service, like a new email provider perhaps, or registering online to access, some information. Maybe that's for free, right? 

[00:11:21] Jammie: Mm-hmm. 

[00:11:21] Rich L: But they don't mention what is in it for the company that's asking you for that permission to start collecting your data. You mention often if you don't pay for the product, you are the product.

[00:11:34] So can you tell us more about that? 

[00:11:36] Jammie: That's, that's really at the heart of this. Right. So a lot of people think, well, I'm getting this for free. I'm getting to use Facebook. I'm getting to use Instagram for free. I'm getting to use Google Docs for free. No, you're not. they're taking your data.

[00:11:50] And they're amplifying their business with your data, 

[00:11:54] Rich L: but they're not only taking what you're using on your Facebook app or your Instagram app or any other app that you're using, but [00:12:00] they're also behind the scenes collecting everything else you've ever done on that phone. Correct? 

[00:12:04] Jammie: That's correct. 

[00:12:04] Rich L: Or your computer.

[00:12:05] Jammie: That's correct. So they can actually collect data even from. Brick and mortar shops that you go to. 

[00:12:13] Rich L: Wow. 

[00:12:13] Jammie: There are brick and mortar stores that will sell their information to Meta the people behind Facebook and Instagram so that they can feed that algorithm that we talked about. Yeah, even more. 

[00:12:26] Rich L: We talk a lot about, not only your privacy and security, but we often forget about maybe your spouse, your child, what they're downloading on their phones and computers, and even more importantly, your parents or seniors who we've had a, a podcast before about they're the most targeted, you know, 

[00:12:47] They're the most targeted 

[00:12:48] Jammie: Demographic. 

[00:12:49] Rich L: Yeah. Demographic right. Of, of getting targeted for scams. Right? So what is the most surprising real world consequence people don't expect if they aren't [00:13:00] watching out for their own privacy? 

[00:13:02] Jammie: So let, let's go back to the statement of, you know, I've got nothing to hide.

[00:13:08] Yeah. So why should I care about privacy? Let them look at me up. Right. 

[00:13:12] Rich L: I'm not doing anything illegal 

[00:13:13] Jammie: Exactly 

[00:13:14] Rich L: right. 

[00:13:14] Jammie: Well, there's actually consequence to that, and it comes down to the collection of data that is happening passively. Meaning you're not in there typing your date of birth, no passively because they're collecting data on your behavior, on your location, on your habits.

[00:13:36] Preferences, all of that to form a very, very specific profile of who you are, right? 

[00:13:43] Rich L: Mm-hmm. 

[00:13:43] Jammie: Once they form that very, very specific profile, that will impact what you pay for goods that can impact even insurance rates. So what's happening right now is, there is this thing called dynamic [00:14:00] pricing.

[00:14:00] And not a lot of people are aware of this, but. you can go and shop to a specific e-commerce store, your favorite e-commerce store. You go and try to buy that widget. And if they're taking advantage of dynamic pricing, what they're doing is they're taking the profile that they have on you, which by the way, they can acquire from third parties.

[00:14:21] And they're deciding that because, you have an iPhone and they can tell. They can tell you have an iPhone or you are connecting to the internet from a MacBook, right? There's a profile, there's actually a fingerprint that they've developed that's as unique as the fingerprints on your hand. So you actually don't need to log into any accounts for them to profile you and develop that fingerprint.

[00:14:49] Rich L: So when you're talking about dynamic pricing, right, they basically can say. We understand it's Christmas time, everybody's buying Turkey for their Christmas dinner, and [00:15:00] therefore if somebody's buying a Turkey, we can actually raise the price on that Turkey because we know there's not a lot of turkeys out there.

[00:15:07] And maybe I'm using that as an example obviously, but maybe they can afford to buy a Turkey at a much higher price because they're desperate and, and they know this, these, 

[00:15:18] Jammie: but it's. It's per person. It's happening all the time. 

[00:15:21] Rich L: Right? 

[00:15:21] Jammie: We don't even need to wait for Thanksgiving, Christmas time, right? So this is happening every single day.

[00:15:27] When you go online, people don't realize it, right? They're not comparing prices. So you could go and go shop for Turkey, right? And you could end up paying a lot more for that Turkey than your neighbor will. And that's what dynamic pricing is all about. 

[00:15:44] Rich L: And, and they, and they base that on, I guess maybe other past shopping experiences where maybe you've gotten the higher end product versus a lower end product perhaps 

[00:15:54] Jammie: that goes into it.

[00:15:55] Yeah. But like I said, they have a, an enormous amount of [00:16:00] information. They, they could practically hold your entire digital life and they can make a decision on what price. To put on that Turkey based on that, there's a certain threshold that they develop when it comes to that price. And they know that threshold, meaning what is the top dollar that Richard Leimgruber is gonna pay for that Turkey versus your neighbor Bob next door.

[00:16:25] Rich L: Mm-hmm. 

[00:16:25] Jammie: Right. Yeah. And it's, it, it's, it's, of 

[00:16:28] Rich L: course they wanna charge me more. Of course. 

[00:16:29] Jammie: Right. It feels like they're always charging. Yeah. Yeah. Us more. but. Just recently, New York State actually passed a law regarding dynamic pricing right back in 2025. And oh, by the way, dynamic pricing, just to be clear, in the United States, it's not illegal.

[00:16:48] They can charge whatever they want to charge. 

[00:16:50] Rich L: Sure. 

[00:16:50] It's a free market. 

[00:16:51] Jammie: but what New York State has come out with this law is basically says if you are gonna utilize dynamic pricing. Then you need [00:17:00] to tell your, your consumer that and you need to make them aware that you are, and in fact, using dynamic pricing.

[00:17:08] And here's a prime example. You and I actually have experienced dynamic pricing Uber. 

[00:17:13] Rich L: Oh yes. 

[00:17:14] Jammie: Right? 

[00:17:14] Rich L: Oh yeah. 

[00:17:15] Jammie: We've been standing next to each other waiting for a ride to get to wherever, a hotel or back home. And you go on your Uber app. I go on my Uber app and we end up getting.

[00:17:28] Different pricing. 

[00:17:28] Rich L: Yeah. Could be 20, $30 more. 

[00:17:31] Jammie: It is significant enough where we're like, okay, no, you do it then. 

[00:17:34] Rich L: Right, right. 

[00:17:35] Jammie: That's a prime example of dynamic pricing. 

[00:17:37] Rich L: Yeah, absolutely. And so how does somebody help their loved ones 

[00:17:41] Jammie: when you speak of protecting loved ones, yes. They're also gonna be faced with dynamic pricing and this profiling and scams that are happening every day that. texts are going to your older loved ones, they're clicking on a link, they're giving away their [00:18:00] social security number, everything.

[00:18:02] and by the way, it's not so much, these outlandish scams where there's, oh, I'm a prince and I'm gonna, offer you a thousand dollars. Those are the, that's 

[00:18:09] Rich L: where it all started. Right. Those are the old ones. They've gotten a lot more complicated 

[00:18:13] Jammie: now. Oh, a lot more complicated. Especially with ai.

[00:18:16] Yeah. So. A lot more people are falling for these text messages. So you have to sit with your loved one and say, Hey, this is what's going on. Let's make a game plan together. Don't click on any links if somebody's requesting personal information, think about it. If it's a, a big known company that you're doing business with, go into your, account.

[00:18:41] See and check that out because 90 times out of, you know, a hundred, that's a scam, right? And. These companies, they don't need to verify who you are. They have your information. .

[00:18:56] Rich L: You know, one of the things I wanted to talk about is [00:19:00] oftentimes we hear about, you know, getting a notification about these data breaches. Right. You know, big company Fortune 500, their, their, their data was stolen. And now you're gonna get free online credit monitoring for the next 12 months. You just have to sign up.

[00:19:13] And I get calls all the time from clients when they receive those saying, is this true? what do I do? That's something that's not my purview, but I always tell them, you know, call the company, find out more. Read, read what they sent you. But when, when it comes down to it, you know, let's talk about separating the real risks from some of the noise, right?

[00:19:32] oftentimes we worry about things that don't really matter as much and ignore what's even more impactful. So what actually matters to pay attention to 

[00:19:42] Jammie: by the time you're getting that notice? 

[00:19:44] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:19:45] Jammie: Years have probably have passed since they've had your information. 

[00:19:49] Rich L: Right. 

[00:19:49] Jammie: Months, you know, and the company is just now divulging that to their customers, unfortunately.

[00:19:55] So Right when they're forced 

[00:19:55] Rich L: to do 

[00:19:56] Jammie: it. So they may have already gone into your accounts and [00:20:00] you may not even know it, but the whole thing here is every single day, you're gonna see a headline. Passwords, 16 billion passwords were. Leaked, your information is leaked everywhere, right? But what you have to do is understand from a digital perspective, there are really, in my opinion, four things that you really need to protect and forget about, you know, all this noise.

[00:20:30] And that goes down to your email, which is actually the digital key to a lot of your. Digital life. Because if anybody, can get a hold of your email. They can reset passwords, they can change accounts. Then there is your phone number. We talked about these, text scams, right?

[00:20:53] Mm-hmm. they can come in to send you a text. They could even impersonate you with your phone number, right? [00:21:00] So protect your email, protect your phone number, protect your location. Believe it or not, every time you sign onto the internet, your location is known, not just to your internet service provider.

[00:21:16] Whoever that may be, but to the company. And you wanna make sure that you 

[00:21:22] protect that because once companies or others know your location, they can start to see patterns with your life. 

[00:21:31] 

[00:21:31] the fourth one being money, you gotta protect your money because that's where the real damage happens. 

[00:21:38] get the first three in order.

[00:21:41] That helps to secure your money. 

[00:21:43] Rich L: So how do you protect emails, phone numbers, and the data that you have, 

[00:21:50] you're giving 

[00:21:50] up. 

[00:21:50] Jammie: start with your email, Don't go freely giving up your email to whatever company asks for it.

[00:21:57] I tell others, don't just have [00:22:00] one email address, have multiple addresses. Because if you have multiple addresses, then now you have the data Aggregation is not necessarily connecting all those points because now they have to look at this other email and it may not even come up. 

[00:22:18] Rich L: So, as an example, I always have one that I just use for ones that I know I'm gonna get marketed towards and maybe I'm buying something online and I use that email. So I know that my other email is really for those who I have a personal relationship with, who I don't want to give that away to just anybody or any store.

[00:22:35] Is that what you're explaining? 

[00:22:37] Jammie: Exactly 

[00:22:38] Rich L: right. 

[00:22:38] Jammie: Because they're gonna, again, go back and develop that profile with the email that comes up every single time you sign on. Yep. But if you have different ones now, you just made it a little bit harder for them to connect the dots. and then you're gonna have to make sure that you use unique passwords across the board.

[00:22:57] Rich L: Right. 

[00:22:57] Jammie: Never. Ever reuse your [00:23:00] passwords 

[00:23:00] Rich L: Okay. And that's where you talk about the password managers? 

[00:23:05] Jammie: Correct. When you mention that to someone, deer in the headlights, what? What does that mean? How do I implement that into my everyday life? 

[00:23:14] Rich L: Right. 

[00:23:15] Jammie: You use one? 

[00:23:16] Rich L: Yep. 

[00:23:16] Jammie: 

[00:23:16] Rich L: That's only because of you.

[00:23:18] Jammie: Thank goodness. but you know, when it comes to password managers, They're user-friendly ones out there like one password proton pass. They actually have a free tier, and they're very user-friendly. You download the app on your phone, you can even download it on your desktop, 

[00:23:36] Rich L: and are they gonna be tracking you?

[00:23:37] Um, 

[00:23:38] Jammie: so here's the thing, is that that information is encrypted. Okay? Okay. So the information that's found within your vaults of passwords is encrypted. They cannot go in there and see what's, what you're storing in there. 

[00:23:53] Rich L: So that's a big word that you just mentioned, encryption, right? So will that be in part of the terms and conditions?

[00:23:59] If [00:24:00] something, if your information is encrypted? 

[00:24:02] Jammie: Most of the time, if companies are encrypting your information, they're gonna tell you. Okay. Because that's a big plus. 

[00:24:07] Rich L: That's a big plus. Right? And that must cost a lot more money for them to do that. 

[00:24:11] Jammie: Of course. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:24:12] Rich L: Okay. 

[00:24:12] Jammie: So, and if they're a reputable company, they're gonna have independent audits.

[00:24:16] Rich L: Got it. 

[00:24:17] Jammie: there are some companies that say they're encrypted, but who's auditing that information? 

[00:24:21] using that password manager, making sure that's gonna help you keep track of all those emails that we talked about, all those unique passwords that we talked about.

[00:24:30] Rich L: Sure. 

[00:24:30] Jammie: those two things alone can dramatically reduce being exposed to these data Breaches, 

[00:24:37] Rich L: So that's a password manager can really help you protect a lot of what we just talked about, those four things. 

[00:24:42] Jammie: And they can also, you can use them for two factor authentication, 

[00:24:46] Rich L: right?

[00:24:46] Two factor authentication. It remembers my, you, my credit card numbers, right? 

[00:24:51] Jammie: Yeah. And. Here's the other thing, screenshots. So a lot of us have taken screenshots of our driver's license, [00:25:00] our passports, and they just reside in our camera roll. Right? Yeah. In our app. You should never do that.

[00:25:05] Rich L: As a favorite, of course. 

[00:25:07] Jammie: As a favorite access to it. Easily. Yes. Let me go to my favorite. 

[00:25:10] Rich L: So you're saying that, that somebody had, could have access to that? 

[00:25:13] Jammie: 

[00:25:13] Rich L: So put that in the password manager instead. 

[00:25:15] Jammie: That's exactly it. 

[00:25:16] Rich L: Yeah. 

[00:25:16] Jammie: Because now it's. Inside a protected vault, 

[00:25:19] Rich L: right? 

[00:25:19] Jammie: we always talk about, you know, somebody telling you a story that they were driving down the road, right? And they were talking about their favorite pizza, or maybe their favorite, you know, pocketbook.

[00:25:31] Rich L: And then they get home and they go online and they go on their social media and lo and behold, there's an ad for that, a pizza or Or that pocketbook that you were just talking about, and everybody's like, oh, my phone is absolutely listening to me. Is that the case? Are they actually listening to us or is there something else going on?

[00:25:47] Jammie: There has been no evidence that these platforms are using your microphone to listen to you. What is happening is the data that [00:26:00] they have on you is so vast. They have so many different data points on you, they, they can practically predict your next step at this point.

[00:26:10] Rich L: So they know 

[00:26:11] I want pizza. 

[00:26:12] Jammie: They already know that you want pizza. Mm-hmm. And guess what? They know that you were with Bob who wanted pizza. So Bob's probably gonna get that pizza ad as well. 

[00:26:22] Rich L: So they know that 

[00:26:22] somebody was with me and they're like, these guys both like pizza, so they're probably gonna have pizza for lunch today.

[00:26:27] Jammie: Remember what I talked about with location? Yeah. Protect your location. 

[00:26:30] Rich L: 

[00:26:30] Holy cow. 

[00:26:30] Jammie: So they know your location. So no, the apps are not listening to you. There's just so much information out there that they hold that they can pretty much, like I said, predict what that next step that you're gonna take.

[00:26:45] Rich L: Great advice.one of the things that's always confusing for some of the people that I work with on a daily basis is something called a web browser.

[00:26:54] And, you know, the best one is always like, oh, let me just like log on to, you know, [00:27:00] Yahoo. and they think that Yahoo has to direct them to a browser and to their email or even, you know, Google, right? But there is a difference between a search engine and a web browser. Can you explain? 

[00:27:12] Jammie: the importance there is because they require a different protection when it comes to your data.

[00:27:17] So a browser is basically what's, if you think of a car, that's your browser, it's gonna take you from where you are logging onto the internet to where you want to go. It's gonna be your car. So it takes you to that specific address, a search engine. So let's talk about Google search. Which is very different than Google Chrome.

[00:27:41] Chrome is a browser. Google search is the engine, the search engine. That can be, if you think about it from a GPS standpoint, you are, you, you're putting in something in your GPS and they, it's going to come back with different routes, 

[00:27:58] Rich L: 

[00:27:58] Jammie: in terms of a search, it's [00:28:00] gonna come back with different results.

[00:28:02] So those two work together and they require different protection when it comes to online privacy. It's important to understand the distinction 

[00:28:13] Rich L: and those, protections are embedded in that little gear icon. Right. And I, I'm assuming that we don't ever go there unless we 

[00:28:22] Jammie: do you, 

[00:28:22] Rich L: I mean, not often, right?

[00:28:24] Jammie: Right. So. Here's the thing is, you know, Google is everywhere and I mentioned them because they're the, they're the biggest search engine by far and Chrome. Right. Their browser. so people need to understand that they actually have options because again, Google is collecting all that information. 

[00:28:44] Rich L: Mm-hmm.

[00:28:44] Jammie: Right. So there are other options for browsers that are just as. Great. there's a browser called Brave There is Firefox. there is actually, DuckDuckGo has a browser that you [00:29:00] can use. Sure. And those companies are privacy first. They're not making money off of the data points 

[00:29:08] And with that, you also have to then now protect your search queries. A lot of these browsers, like for example, brave, they come with their own search engine. Right. Gotcha. Duck, duck go started as a search engine, right? So it's pretty easy to have those both together and, you know, have more privacy there.

[00:29:29] Rich L: So if I, if I, instead of using Google search and I use duck, duck, go search and I say Chinese food near me, do I get the same results? 

[00:29:38] Jammie: No. 

[00:29:40] Rich L: Okay. 

[00:29:41] Jammie: No. So, and honestly,it really depends on the search engine. There are search engines that will actually use Google search results, 

[00:29:52] but they strip off the tracking so they're not sending back data. it's, it's gonna be less tailored to [00:30:00] you. 

[00:30:00] Rich L: 

[00:30:00] Jammie: Yeah. But that's what you want. 

[00:30:01] Rich L: I'm gonna move on and we're gonna move on to something that you and I both use. And you talk about this all the time.

[00:30:08] I, I hear you speaking about it. And that's on virtual private network works or VPNs. So what are VPNs, how do they work and why and when would you like to, would, would we want to use those? 

[00:30:23] Jammie: VPNs are, I would say the third component of privacy with your digital life when it comes to, logging on to the internet.

[00:30:34] We talked about your browser, your search engine, and you add the VPN to That is such an impactful trio of tools that you can use to minimize a big chunk of the data collection that's happening passively. So a VPN Virtual Private Network essentially protects. If you think about it, going back to the car analogy, [00:31:00] A VPN becomes a tunnel.

[00:31:02] For that car. The car is traveling in that tunnel, you cannot see in that tunnel, right? So it protects where you're going in the internet so that not your, your internet service provider won't know what website you're going to, right? And it protects your IP, Your IP is very similar to your geographic location.

[00:31:24] Rich L: 

[00:31:24] Jammie: So it basically says, You are no longer connecting from New York when you use A VPN, it can say you're actually connecting from California as an example, because you actually, you can change your, location. 

[00:31:38] that's where A VPN comes in and you wanna make sure that I would say. Use your VPN as much as you can, even when you're home, 

[00:31:46] Rich L: right? So, so what happens if, somebody's listening to this and they say, I'm gonna go protect my email, I'm gonna go protect my money, I'm gonna protect my phone, and I'm gonna protect, I guess, my location, right?

[00:31:56] Mm-hmm. Those four things, what is, what [00:32:00] about everything that's happened in the past? How do they wipe that out? Clean that out. 

[00:32:03] Jammie: It depends on the company. Got it. It really depends on the company. 

[00:32:07] Rich L: I mean, just deleting the app, would that do it? 

[00:32:09] Jammie: Absolutely not. 

[00:32:09] the responsibility is on you.

[00:32:12] So you have to take the step to, communicate with that company and say, I no longer want your services, delete every single point, every single data point you have on me. 

[00:32:24] Rich L: Okay. 

[00:32:25] You mentioned before, ai, artificial intelligence, it's the newest technology.

[00:32:29] Everybody's using it, and we talk to it sometimes like a therapist, right? And we like, Hey, you know, whatever the chat, whatever you might be using, is going to tell me what's the best way to do something like this, right? So we're giving them that information, right? And most of the AI is now free again. So does that mean.

[00:32:48] It's actually free, or am I being the one that they're collecting that data on? So, AI obviously doesn't, eliminate privacy, but it does change the stakes. So data performance [00:33:00] versus, you know, data reuse. We talk about the importance of an, intentional digital footprints. Can you get a little bit into how AI works and what you could do to protect yourself when using ai?

[00:33:12] Jammie: So data permanence. Is one of those key things, that, is part of the ai, combination there. When you're sharing your, your information, it's basically you are feeding it a lot of information through your conversations. 

[00:33:28] Rich L: 

[00:33:28] Jammie: And a lot of people think that privacy is by default when it comes to, your chat, GPT, Claude, Gemini, whatever AI chat bot you use.

[00:33:38] No. The answer is no. You should always assume that you are opted in to share your information. 

[00:33:46] Rich L: Sure. 

[00:33:46] Jammie: these systems, they're again, also very data hungry. They need as much information as possible, so they're gonna use the information that you're putting in your conversations to train future models.

[00:33:59] Right. What does that [00:34:00] mean? What does that look like? Well, you could be sharing trade secrets, intellectual property. or you can be sharing personal identifiable information. Now what's happened is we've had, unfortunately, we've had data leaks with chat GBT with meta ai. People's conversations have been made public, so you have to be under the assumption that this information could be leaked.

[00:34:32] It's gonna be used in the future, and you have to make sure that you're comfortable with that and that you are comfortable, with that information that you're sharing with the ai. Okay. There are private ais that are encrypted, actually. Oh. That you can use. and one that I know of is called Okara and they're encrypted.

[00:34:52] They don't collect any information on your conversations. And as a matter of fact, they offer a lot of the [00:35:00] different models. So instead of you paying, for example, just for chat GBT, you can pay Okara and then you can use ChatGPT, Gemini, and they all work. In a very closed environment. 

[00:35:13] Rich L: So you are grabbing the information from those ai, but they're not collecting yours to add to it.

[00:35:18] Jammie: Right.

[00:35:18] Rich L: So that's really interesting. So, you know, wrapping up, if you can give your top three to do this now. What are three ideas that you can, somebody can implement for protecting your online data and privacy today? ​

[00:35:34] Jammie: Lock down your email. 

[00:35:36] Rich L: Lock down email number one. 

[00:35:37] Jammie: First and foremost, we talked about the importance of that because it is your digital key. 

[00:35:41] Rich L: And with that comes understanding how, how to protect that. Use a password manager. 

[00:35:49] Password manager. Right. 

[00:35:49] Jammie: Right. Okay. So you wanna lock down your email, make sure you have a password manager and try to not give up. Passive information [00:36:00] with your browsing habits, with your searches. So use those private browsers.

[00:36:04] Use those private search engines that VPN, that is gonna reduce a lot of the exposure. That you may be, a victim of when you have the data leaks and passwords being leaked. 

[00:36:20] And it's also gonna reduce the profiling of all these companies that are taking advantage of your data because it is so valuable.

[00:36:29] If people can only do those three things, they can protect a lot of their privacy and set that boundary. with digital privacy, it's not an all or nothing conversation. You don't have to stay off the internet to protect your privacy. you have to be intentional, move away from default behavior to intentional behavior.

[00:36:56] Rich L: Well, thank you very much. I think we should have a second [00:37:00] podcast on this because there's a lot of information That's out there. And, you know, I, I just wanna say, I'm super proud of you. 

[00:37:06] Jammie: Thank you. 

[00:37:07] Rich L: because you're doing something that nobody else is really talking about, which is how do people, common people protect themselves.

[00:37:14] People from these big corporate giants that are giving away everything here. Look at this carrot at the end of the stick, but not realizing. All the data they're collecting on you that they can use against you, for you, whatever, just to get more business, and it's just crazy. So what I've taken away is that privacy matters, awareness precedes control setting boundaries are not anti-technology. They are pro intentional living. And don't let convenience quietly become your consents. Just like money, data unmanaged doesn't disappear. It gets managed by somebody else. And I just wanna say thanks for tuning in to EnRich Life podcast today. I wanna say a special thanks to LMC Media who helps [00:38:00] produce this as well as Vekterly.

[00:38:02] if you feel like this was helpful, please share it with the ones that you love and let them know that there is information out there that they can use to protect themselves. Are there any other topics you'd like to hear about? Remember, you can enrich yourself every day with financial strategies. You just need to find the right one that works for you.

[00:38:24] You can reach me at hello@enrichlifepodcast.com. 

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