We know and accept that they have our data, why do not they tell us the whole truth?
We have reached a point where full privacy, if we are connected to the network, practically equals zero. It is an increasingly generalized opinion and, at the same time, a growing observation. Services that we use daily, of all kinds, accumulate lines and lines of information about us. They know much more than many users believe.
Each click, each data entered, each visit to a website, each search and even each physical movement can be traveling through the internet to the servers of a large company that will use them for different purposes. With each digital step, our privacy is diluted a little more. It is like that.
This speech may sound apocalyptic, evoke a lost struggle, seem like a paranoia or sound tantrum for the rules of a game that has been chosen to play voluntarily. But it is still a reality.
Administrations to ensure the protection of data no longer set in large technology companies and their methods, studies show the ignorance of the average user about tracking which becomes subdued, while we watched transparency shines often by his absence on the side of who gathers our information. The last example bears the seal of Google.
Lack of privacy and transparency once again
Just a few hours ago, Quartz published a worrying investigation of which our colleagues at have given a good account.
According to it, an Android phone collects information about the location of the device and sends it to Google even if the location services have been deactivated, no application has been used or even a SIM card of an operator has been inserted. Being the user totally oblivious to it.
Each time you have access to the network, register and send the location of the nearest telephone antenna. Each time you enter the range of another, the terminal repeats the operation again. This dubious practice takes place, they point out in the publication, since the beginning of 2017 and apparently affects “all modern Android devices” . Although the location provided is not precise and is sent encrypted, if the phone is compromised it could reach a third party and through triangulation it would be possible to reveal the specific location. Sensitive subjects may be in danger.
After checking the data collection, from Quartz they contacted Google and the company confirmed the practice . They stated that it is only used to manage notifications and push messages , although without specifying how, and that they were never used or stored for any other purpose.
The spokesman for the Mountain View also reported that the collection of information will soon cease , coincidentally after its discovery.
Information is power; in all cases
The maxim that precedes these lines, “information is power”, is more true than ever in the digital age. We speak of power, in the most literal sense of the word, and also of money. From our data, from our searches to locations through tastes, consumption habits or political opinions, depends largely on the progress of large internet companies .
Their main asset is the information they collect, if not how they would support such great services for free, and thanks to it they achieve the success of the services they provide to third parties. We talk about advertising, essentially.
Most users are aware that their location is collected if they have such an active service on their device. Most users agree to receive personalized advertising with the use of a social network in which they have expressed their likes. Some do not have such awareness, but they know it or they have not entered the game accepting terms and conditions.
That being the case, with users having accepted the rules of the game in one way or another, why not be honest? Why not tell the whole truth? Information is power for them and should be for those of us on the other side. At a minimum, when choosing what data we want to share or know what information about our activity is going to be recorded. It’s about playing fair.
