What information do the apps on our smartphones get about us?
What does Google know about us? And most importantly, how can some dark forces dispose of all this data? Spoiler alert: practically nothing.
We tell Facebook what we're thinking, Instagram shows us what we're eating, Uber knows where we are, and Google will soon be analyzing our online purchases. Have we reached the precipice?
It's not that bad.
Questions about surveillance and monitoring are becoming more frequent and louder. The situation is escalated and booming, but the emphasis is completely misplaced. The CIA is not spying on you. But companies who want to sell you their goods or services are. Is this something to be afraid of? No.
That's because their only desire is to advertise effectively. There are very, very many mobile applications. How do you make money from them? There are two main options. The first is to sell apps for money. The second way to monetize is through advertising. When the app is running, a banner is shown - it's targeted advertising, that is, that which is relevant to that particular user. In order to understand what he is interested in, you need to collect some data - they are impersonal, there is no confidential information in them. It's useful for the advertiser to know where the user goes, near what he walks by, what model of smartphone he has, etc. But for whatever other purpose, there is nothing of value in such information. There are millions of smartphones: if one more is added to the database, nothing bad will happen to its owner.
-
Fact #1
The attacks are so high-tech now that you can get infected just by accessing the Internet.
-
Fact #2
Apple has centralized app storage, which is not easy to get into. In addition, the applications are moderated, so they are more or less protected. With Android, it is the opposite.
-
Fact #3
It's always best to have the latest operating system and the latest updates for all installed applications.