Our home locations and addresses in private messages, phone numbers and much more, is the valuable personal information – data that we hand over to online services every day without realizing it.
However, accepting them conditions υπηρεσιών συμφωνήσαμε ότι οι Companies they can use our personal data for their own use.
How many times have you read a privacy policy from an electronic platform till the end; None; me neither.
Online security platform vpnMentor has read the privacy policies of some of the most popular apps, creating an interactive tool which shows how these companies track our every move.
The new service studied more than 7,2 billion accounts on platforms such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Tinder. How many of us know the details of the privacy policies we accept almost automatically?
Facebook and Instagram seem to be the biggest offenders, as they monitor their users as much as they can.
What do company technicians know about you? The new tool shows how big the problem is. Is it time to think more before pressing acceptance in terms of service?
Below are some of the details displayed by the tool:
Location: Of the 21 platforms studied, 18 tracked your current location at all times while using the app. Some of them, like Tinder, keep track of you even when the app is not in use. Facebook and Instagram not only track your location but also the location of businesses and people nearby. They also store your home address and the places you visit most often.
Your messages: Think no one will know your private messages? You should revise. Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram use the information you share on messaging services to learn more about you, while Twitter and Spotify openly state that they have access in all messages you send on their platforms.
Informations device: Many services and applications monitor more of your device's functions than they seem to need. Facebook and Instagram monitor battery level, signal strength, nearby Wi-Fi hotspots, if the phone is securely connected, app names and file names on your device, among others. Google and Amazon keep voice recordings out of searches, while Alexa and Apple Music track phone calls and emails sent and received on devices that use the services.
If you do not have an account on the above platforms, this will not prevent your movements from being tracked on Internet. Google tracks your activity on third-party websites that use Google features such as advertisements.
Pages that work with Facebook (8.4 million sites across the web) send Facebook and Instagram data collected through Facebook Business Tools, such as button Like – regardless of whether you have a Facebook account or are logged in.
Even if you have set the “Do Not Track” option that some programs have browsing, you are not safe. Almost no site responds to the signal, and continues to monitor you.
It's not just third-party websites that store your data, Facebook collects and maintains data provided about you by others, such as those who upload data contact you without your permission.
Gaya Polat, from VPNmentor, said: “The amount of data held by users on the internet should make them wary of using their personal information.
You can see it too interactive tool.
Caution: VPNmentor service is advertising, and contains affiliate links. This means that with every click on the VPN services it contains, it receives percentages, especially if you buy one of the services. Also the free tool offered by the company, may not be free, as all the data it discovers may end up in the company's databases.
