Staying Private

Privacy has already become a hot topic this year, and I’m not just saying that because it was in my 2026 predictions. AI has increased the volume of data that companies can work with and the ways they derive insights. 

This may be good news if your healthcare company is able to use extra information to identify that you have risk factors for a rare illness. Or it maybe bad news if your health insurance company is able to identify that you have risk factors for a rare illness.

Weighing the Risks

The most likely use case is that your consumer data – the details about what you buy – continues to be shared and analyzed across platforms to derive ever more insights, and find new channels for marketing to you.

And for many, this fact has lead us to a state of apathy: who cares if I get more coupons for burritos? Is that even a bad thing?

The problem is that it’s not just burritos. A woman buys a pregnancy test and receives unsolicited boxes of formula a few weeks later after she miscarries. Family members send encrypted WhatsApp messages but are connected to their pings off a public wifi near a protest site. A business-related prompt or file asked on TikTok’s AI interface is now data collected by the platform.

Everyday questions to ask about your data

NCDIT celebrated Data Privacy Day on January 28 and shared a simple checklist to help consider the impacts before downloading an app, signing up for a service, or taking an online quiz:

• Is it worth it? Ask whether using an app, playing a game, or getting a discount on a burrito is worth the amount and type of personal data you’re sharing.
• Is it relevant? If a flashlight app wants your contacts or a shopping app wants constant location access, these are red flags. Look for a different tool.
• Can I control it? Every device, app, and browser has privacy settings—review them regularly and tighten them where you can. More on this below!
• Should I keep it? Delete accounts and apps you no longer use; they may still be collecting and sharing your data.
• Should I tell AI? Never paste private details, financial information, or work data into AI tools. They learn from what you enter and may draw from what you post publicly.

And remember, privacy isn’t only about you. The post you share or message you send is only as private as the settings of the people you’re sharing with.

Phishing Around

This is largely anecdotal but I’ve definitely seen an uptick in reports of phishing attempts. Clients, colleagues, and vendors have all shared instances of attempts to trick users into sharing data or buying gift cards. 

If you see a message that seems phishy, trust your gut! A quick message to the sender (or purported sender) is worth the time to avoid a breech. And if you see these messages coming to your community, share the alert to keep others from stumbling into a tricky email or text.

What’s up with the Green Web Checker?

In our last newsletter we were thrilled to share the release of the Green Web Checker, a simple extension available in the Chrome Web Store that is designed to let you know at a glance if a website is hosted by a company running its servers with renewable energy. 

In the last two weeks we’ve put out some updates to improve information and change the default so that a check is not performed on every visited site unless the user opts-in.

Check it our, and please share your feedback through the Chrome store or our website!