Here are some articles to help understand how severe the lack of privacy online is.
Free services + apps come at a price so be careful about how much of your privacy you give away in exchange.
How we’re being tracked by Google:
- Google Is Tracking You On 86% Of The Top 50,000 Websites On The Planet (2020) https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/03/11/google-is-tracking-you-on-86-of-the-top-50000-websites-on-the-planet/?sh=186824d6750f
- Google Says It Doesn’t ‘Sell’ Your Data. Here’s How the Company Shares, Monetizes, and Exploits It (2020) https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/google-says-it-doesnt-sell-your-data-heres-how-company-shares-monetizes-and
How telcos are making money off their paying subscribers:
- T-Mobile to share customers’ web, mobile-app data with advertisers unless they opt out (2021) https://thehill.com/policy/technology/542303-t-mobile-to-share-customers-web-mobile-app-data-with-advertisers-unless
- US telcos caught selling your location data again: Senator demands new laws (2019) https://www.zdnet.com/article/us-telcos-caught-selling-your-location-data-again-senator-demands-new-laws/
makes us wonder if telcos in Asia are doing this as well
How apps are selling user data:
- Study: Tinder, Grindr And Other Apps Share Sensitive Personal Data With Advertisers (2020) https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/796427696/study-grindr-tindr-and-other-apps-share-sensitive-personal-data-with-advertisers
- That mental health app might share your data without telling you (2019) https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/20/18508382/apps-mental-health-smoking-cessation-data-sharing-privacy-facebook-google-advertising
- 7 in 10 smartphone apps share your data with third-party services (2017) https://theconversation.com/7-in-10-smartphone-apps-share-your-data-with-third-party-services-72404
- Report finds major apps are illegally sharing data with Facebook (2018) https://siliconangle.com/2018/12/31/report-finds-major-apps-illegally-sharing-data-facebook/
Companies in the headline selling user data:
- Zoom Accused of Illegally Sharing Personal Data With Facebook in New Lawsuit (2020) https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/zoom-accused-illegally-sharing-personal-160143173.html
- Social media giant Facebook had admitted to once again improperly sharing user data with third-party developers, after repeatedly promising users that it would not do so (2020) https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2020/07/02/facebook-admits-to-improperly-sharing-user-data-again/
- Here’s Why Grindr Was Just Fined $11 Million In Court (2021) https://www.out.com/tech/2021/1/26/grindr-fined-11-million-illegally-sharing-users-personal-data
- New report shows Google tracks 80% of the Web, with Amazon likely to overtake Facebook as second-worst privacy threat (2020) https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/new-report-shows-google-tracks-80-of-the-web-with-amazon-likely-to-overtake-facebook-as-second-worst-privacy-threat/
Featured image credit: “Privacy” by g4ll4is is licensed under CC BY 2.0