Things That Will Soon Disappear Forever: Your Privacy

If you are online, you had better assume that you already have no privacy and act accordingly. 

Every mouse click and keystroke is tracked, logged and potentially analyzed and eventually used by Web site product managers, marketers, hackers and others. To use most services, users have to opt-in to lengthy terms and conditions that allow their data to be crunched by all sorts of actors.

But is not just computers.

The list of tracking devices is set to boom, as sensors are added to appliances, lights, locks, HVAC systems and even trash cans. Other innovations: Using wifi signals, for instance, to track movements, from where you're driving or walking down to your heartbeat. Retailers will use the technology to track in minute detail how folks walk around a store and reach for products. 

Also, facial-recognition software that can change display advertising to personalize it to you; time for a mask? Transcription software will be so good that many businesses will soon collect mountains of phone-conversation data to mine and analyze.

And think of this: Most of us already carry around an always-on tracking device for which we usually pay good money — a smart phone. Your phone is loaded up with sensors and GPS data. Is it linked to a FitBit perhaps? Now it has your health data.

One reason not to fret: Encryption methods are getting better at walling off at least some aspects of our digital lives. 

But living the reclusive life of J.D. Salinger might soon become real fiction.