Mobile apps have made our lives much easier in many ways, and most of them don’t need to be paid to use. But everything has a price. A saying you know very well is “If something is free, you are the product.” In many popular applications, you are the product; rather your data, in other words your privacy. Here are some apps to avoid if you’re worried about your data:
Facebook and associated apps
Since its founding in 2004, Facebook has faced intense criticism for how much it cares about user privacy. Many major data breaches have occurred and are arguably more involved in the controversy than any other Silicon Valley giant. It’s no secret that Facebook is incredibly invasive and follows users in more ways than they can imagine, but there are just as many other apps under the Meta umbrella as Facebook.
Rumors have been circulating for a long time that Facebook is actually spying and eavesdropping on people’s conversations without their consent. In reality, Facebook doesn’t even need to spy on you. The company collects so much relevant data that it can predict your next purchase and your future online behavior in general. Simply put, if you care about privacy, you should not use Facebook and associated apps.
Weather apps
There is an app for everything nowadays, but few have proven useful and reliable. Wondering how hot it is outside or if it’s going to rain? Just check your weather app and find out what to do. Seems simple and straightforward enough.
But going back to the product user, weather apps are famous for their data collection. For example; The New York Times analyzed 20 popular weather apps to see how much and how much user data weather apps collect. 17 out of 20 apps stated in their privacy policies that they collect user data for advertising purposes. All 14 use location information to track devices, and location information turned out to be incredibly valuable to advertisers.
AccuWeather, one of the most popular apps of this type, was caught sending users’ location data without permission in 2017. It turned out that AccuWeather sends location data to the third party even when location sharing is turned off. AccuWeather also collects information from sensors (gyroscopes, accelerometers, altimeters) on your device.
So, what else does AccuWeather know about you? According to the privacy statement, the app knows your exact GPS coordinates as long as your location services are turned on. However, it is stated in the description that even if you turn off location services, it can automatically send and receive other information from your phone as long as you enable other types of communication.
dating apps
A Stanford study found that 39% of couples who met in the United States in 2017 met online. We can assume that this number has increased since then as dating apps like Tinder, Hinge, eHarmony, Bumble have become more popular than ever.
If you’re single and want to meet someone, dating apps are an option, if not a necessity, in this age of digitization and pandemic. But are dating apps good if you care about protecting your privacy? In short, no.
Dating apps by default require you to disclose a lot of personal information that you’re not afraid to share with complete strangers. Usually your name, birthday, sexual orientation, photos, phone number and email address are required to create an account.
If you want to find someone with similar interests, you’ll probably link your Spotify, Instagram, Facebook accounts, write a personal biography, perhaps provide information about what school you went to or your career. Naturally, you can’t use a dating app without revealing your location.
But this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to dating apps. According to the Mozilla Foundation, Tinder not only collects personal user data; It has a pretty bad track record of protecting users from cybercriminals. For example; In 2020, around 70,000 photos were taken from the app and shared on a cybercrime forum.
Match Group, which owns Tinder and a number of similar popular dating apps, is quite frank in its privacy policy stating that your personal information is shared between these apps. In other words, when you sign up for Tinder, your information is also available on other platforms.
How do you protect your privacy in the digital environment?
No one has to read their privacy policy pages before downloading an app, but it’s good to do basic research about the company and change permissions, similar settings.
It’s always a good idea to limit what you share with others online, double-check before clicking any link or file, use strong passwords, and enable privacy settings on the device or app you’re using.
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