Checking Out Online Shopping

IRL: Online Life is Real Life

When you shop, your data may be the most valuable thing for sale. This isn’t just true online — your data follows you into brick and mortar stores now as well. Manoush Zomorodi explores the hidden costs of shopping, online and off. Meet Meta Brown, a data scientist who unveils the information Amazon captures about you when you make an online purchase; Joseph Turow, who discusses how retailers are stripping us of our privacy; and Alana Semuels, who talks about becoming a hoarder with the advent of online shopping. Plus, learn about a college coffee shop where you can actually buy a drink with your data. (Is it worth it?)

IRL is an original podcast from Mozilla. For more on the series go to irlpodcast.org

Throughout this season, IRL will feature essays from students who are sharing their thoughts on how the web impacts them — for good or bad. This week's post explores what a Facebook hack taught a teen about privacy.

IRL is also partnering with Common Sense Media for tips on how families can stay safe and strong online. This week's post explains what families can do to safeguard their data.

Meta Brown is the author of Data Mining for Dummies.

Joseph Turow is the author of The Aisles Have Eyes.

Read Alana Semuels essay, We Are All Accumulating Mountains of Things.

And, if you decide to shop online this holiday season, Firefox has you covered with Pricewise, which tracks prices for you across five top US retailers: Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Home Depot and Best Buy.

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