If you’re like most people, you browse the web for information, entertainment, and social networking. But what if your browsing data was sold to advertisers? Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself from this type of data theft. Here are four tips:

  1. Use a VPN When Browsing the Web A VPN encrypts your traffic and masks your location. This makes it difficult for third parties to track your online activity. A VPN is a great way to protect your privacy and keep your browsing data safe from being sold to advertisers.
  2. Use a Browser Extension or App That Protects Your Privacy There are many browser extensions and apps that protect your privacy. For example, the Privacy Badger extension blocks tracking cookies and other trackers from collecting information about you. The Ghostery extension blocks ads and other trackers from tracking your online activity. Both of these extensions are available for both Firefox and Chrome browsers.
  3. Use a Password Manager to Protect Your Login Information A password manager stores all of your login information in one place so that it’s harder for someone else to access it. This includes passwords for websites, email accounts, and other sensitive accounts. password managers are available for both desktop computers and mobile devices.
  4. Keep Your Web Browser Updated With Security Updates ..

This also applies to other T-Mobile-owned carriers, including Sprint and Metro by T-Mobile.

What Data Will T-Mobile Sell to Advertisers?

As The Wall Street Journal reports, a T-Mobile privacy policy update says that the company will begin sharing web browsing and mobile app usage data with advertisers. By tracking your mobile app usage and web browsing, T-Mobile can put you into a group known as an “audience segment.” Here’s how T-Mobile explains it:

For example, if you browse a lot of cooking websites on your T-Mobile cellular connection, T-Mobile can put you in an audience segment that’s interested in cooking. These “may be used by T-Mobile or sold to third parties to make ads more relevant to you.” In other words, you might see a lot of cooking-related advertisements in this scenario.

In exchange, you get more highly targeted ads. A T-Mobile spokesperson told The Washington Post that many subscribers say that they prefer more relevant ads, so that’s why T-Mobile is enabling this feature for almost everyone by default. T-Mobile isn’t enabling it for children or business accounts, but every other account will have it enabled by default.

If you don’t want T-Mobile sharing your data to give you targeted ads, you can stop T-Mobile from doing it.

As Ars Technica points out, The Wall Street Journal argues that T-Mobile is being more aggressive than AT&T and Verizon in selling this data—but AT&T and Verizon still have advertising programs that use your data, too.

How to Stop T-Mobile from Selling Your Data

You can opt-out from T-Mobile’s website or in the T-Mobile app. To do so, head to My T-Mobile and sign in with your T-Mobile account, or you can open the T-Mobile app and sign in.

Click the “My  Account” button at the top-right corner of the page and click “Profile.”

Click “Privacy and Notifications” on the Profile page.

Click the “Advertising & Analytics” link.

Click your name in the list to change the settings for your phone line.

If you have multiple lines, you will need to repeat this process for each.

Disable the slider to the right of “Use my data to make ads more relevant to me.” This will prevent T-Mobile from sharing your data with advertisers.

If you have multiple lines with T-Mobile, click the “Back” button and select another line. You’ll have to disable the data-sharing setting for each one.

How to Stop Sprint or Metro from Selling Your Data

If you have Sprint or Metro by T-Mobile, you can change the same setting on your account website. However, the interface looks a little different.

For Sprint, sign in to the Sprint account website. Head to My Account > Preferences > Manage advertising and analytics preferences. Click the line that you want to change the setting for and disable “Use my data to make ads more relevant to me.”

For Metro by T-Mobile, use the MyMetro app or access the Advertising & Analytics Data Choices page. You must access this page on your Metro device. If you’re using the app, head to Account > Network and Location Settings and disable “Use my data to make ads more relevant to me.”