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Living with a Privacy Professional

Married to a Privacy Professional has made me aware of things that I would not normally pay attention to. Awareness of who I am giving my information to and what it is going to be used for is something that I am trying to be more cognizant of.

When the boys were growing up, our conversations were always about soccer at the dinner table as each one played on different teams. Now that they are grown and have families of their own, our conversations revolve around what we did today and who we gave personal information to… My, how life certainly changes!

Some questions I ask myself are:

  • Is this the person whom they say they are? How can I verify this?
  • What is the person going to do with my personal information that I provide?
  • Who is it going to be shared with?  Is giving out my email for a coupon or special pricing worth my privacy?

These are questions that every time I do something I now think twice. An example is I received a call from the Board of Health, they were asking me personal questions, I naively answered with honesty. When I got off the phone, my husband asked me who I was giving my personal information to and what were they going to do with it. While I am much more aware of who I give my information to, when I heard it was the Board of Health I made a decision that they were honest and legitimate. In retrospect, before answering any questions, I should have asked why they wanted my personal information and what they were planning on doing with it.

In summary, being married to a Privacy Professional has made me more aware and a better consumer.