How to protect yourself from apps accessing your personal information. We all know that the mobile phone has become the king of all electronic devices. Small, portable, and capable of doing all the same things like a laptop or desktop computer, mobile phones have quickly become not only a necessity in the modern world but also, for some, an addiction.
For people over fifty years, fond childhood memories and daring young adult antics are treasured in memories, but not on the internet. Now, in 2021, everything we do, everywhere we go, and everything we buy is collected as data, and that information is sold over and over again to the highest bidder.
How to Protect Yourself From Apps Accessing Your Personal Information
Data collection is a multi-billion dollar industry. Many governments are struggling to regulate what happens to millions of people’s data every day. One of the more serious problems is that as individuals, we are giving these companies permission to collect our information and use our devises camera and microphones whenever they like. Some want to call that an invasion of privacy, but the truth is, we agreed to it when we downloaded the app and agreed to the terms and conditions.
Many times when downloading an app to your phone, you are entirely aware that it will have access to your camera and microphone, as is the case with most social media sites. You have to give Instagram or Facebook permission to use your camera and microphone to share videos. It makes sense, right?
How to Protect Yourself From Apps Accessing Your Personal Information
Tech companies have gotten us accustomed to agreeing to terms and conditions every time we download a new game, site, or app. However, the real question is, what permissions are you giving away when you click to “agree” to the terms and conditions? Yes, I understand that Uber may want to know my device’s location so my driver can locate me quicker, but why would they need access to my camera? In fact, Uber has faced more than one lawsuit over privacy issues.
The gather and selling of personal data is a very lucrative business that is continually evolving, so privacy laws cannot wholly protect individuals. So to take more control of who has access to your phone’s capabilities and your data, start by doing your research. Start by taking the time to take a good look at who already has permissions on your device.
How to Protect Yourself From Apps Accessing Your Personal Information Conclusion
On your Android phone, click on the Settings icon and then select the Apps menu. In the top right corner, tap on the Settings icon and then continue by clicking on app permissions. At this point, you should see a list of your phone’s applications such as calendar, call logs, camera, microphone, and so on. Underneath each category, you will see how many downloaded apps have permission to use that part of your device, for example, 16 of 37. When you click on one, say camera, the apps will be in an alphabetical list, and on the right, if the button is green, that app has permission to use your camera. If you want to cancel that permission, tap on the green button to turn it off.
How to Protect Yourself From Apps Accessing Your Personal Information Conclusion
Now that you are aware of the permissions you have already given, pay closer attention in the future to those terms and conditions before you click on the “agree” button. If you agree to provide them with access to your camera and microphone, be aware that they can turn those on any time they like. So unless you want an unknown entity taking random pictures of you or listening in on private conversations and chats, you may not want to “agree” to any more unread terms and conditions.
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