Twitter released a new privacy policy on Wednesday for anyone concerned about how their personal information is tracked, stored and used. data.
In the new policy, the company announced its plans to discontinue the provision of its not previously tracked privacy protection, to store cookies for a longer period of time, and to change the way Twitter will shares your personal data.
"Twitter's announcement is bad news for privacy on the Internet," Marc Rotenberg, president of the nonprofit online privacy information center, told the Associated Press. "The company stopped supporting Do Not Track and gave advertisers access to more user data."
But let's look at things from the beginning:
Twitter will also provide a new set of controls that gives you the option to opt out of making certain data available to third parties. You just have to remember to do this when these options are released within the next month.
What changes to privacy policy?
As mentioned above, "Do Not Track" no longer exists: The new privacy policy, which will take effect on June 18, removes the "Do Not Track" option - a privacy preference that allows you to opt out of monitoring third party services on the site. Although, according to The AP, many social networks, although they have Do Not Track, do not apply it.
Cookies: When you visit a site, you click on share or on a built-in button on a tweet website, Twitter uses tracking cookies to store information relevant to you. Previously, the platform stored this information for 10 days. According to the new privacy update, Twitter extends the storage time to 30 days. Tripling storage time means that they will have more data and that means they will be able to create a more complete profile for you.
This change will not apply to those living in the European Union or European Free Trade Area member states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Νορβηγία and Switzerland.
Sharing your data: This part of the new policy is a little bit dark, but essentially, Twitter changes the way your data is shared with third parties. The worrying part is that some selected partnership agreements will link the data to your personal information such as your name and email, which means that Twitter partners will be able to access your more complete profile.
The good news is that Twitter gives you the option to revoke access. But you should know that Twitter follows the approach: "he agrees until he says I do not agree." What does this mean; The company assumes that you have given it permission until you "say" the opposite through the settings.
How can I stop my data from leaking?
By removing "Do not Track" and changing the way your data is shared, the site states that it will introduce new personalization and data settings that offer even more detailed control over how they [use] your data ”This means you can choose which information can be shared and which can not.
This page seeks to authorize personalized advertising, personalization across devices, access to your location, tracking, projection of Twitter content online and sharing data with selected partners.
In the mobile application, go to "Settings and privacy", "Privacy and security" and then "Personalization and data". This will take you to a page where you can enable or disable Twitter access to your information. You should also do the same in your browser by customizing your preferences.
You just need to know that the default setting for all your data is on.
What to do?
If you want to receive custom advertisements, then you don't need to do anything in your settings. Twitter will soon use your information to customize the ads you see.
If you want to share some information, but not with others, then you should go to the personalization and data page and choose which settings you want to enable and which not. If you're still outraged by the amount of information being shared, select the “repactivation of all".
