I’m already creeped out by how much advertisers know about me. No matter how much opting out I do or how carefully I protect my privacy, the mere act of using Facebook and Google products professionally gives advertisers far more access to my life that I’m anywhere close to comfortable with.

I can’t help but see Facebook’s move into virtual reality or the “Meta World" as a move to keep us so enthralled with their technology we forget what we’re giving up.

The privacy implications aren’t just theoretical. I wrote an article not long ago how about a Catholic priest who was the senior staffer for the US Congress of Catholic Bishops. I say was, because his supposed anonymous use of the gay dating app Grindr got him identified and exposed by journalists. All the religious questions aside, the privacy implications are frightening.

He was identified by investigators compiling advertising network data in ways Facebook and Google have long been telling us are not technically possible.

Once investigators ID’d him, they used advertising data and Grindr positioning data to track him all over the country. Journalists reported some of his movements with great enthusiasm since they included visits to gay saunas.

Is this our dystopian future? Have we traded genuine privacy for the convenience of letting Internet advertising pay for the services we enjoy?