Privacy and security have been the talked in the recent few years in the tech industry. Be it the Facebook–Cambridge Analytica data scandal, or the recent banning of many Chinese apps including Tik Tok.
Have you ever thought about internet privacy and security, and ever wondered what do all these websites and apps that you use knows about you?
Well, apparently, these tech giants knows a whole lot more than you and I imagine.
The moment you register for an email or open a Facebook account, you have literally given them the access to your personal information and details. In other words, your privacy is compromised the day you go online.
Want to know what all these tech giants Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Microsoft collects information from its users? Website Security Baron examined the privacy policies of these tech giants and put together a handy infographic showing the types of data each company admits to collecting.
We all know data are the new oil, data means money. It’s interesting to see how much these tech giants actually collects information about you, how they mined those data, and used it for their own or shared with third parties (say an advertisers).
As can be seen from the infographic, Facebook leads in collecting information and data. Well, it’s not surprised! Facebook gathers so much information about you, including your work, income level, race, religion, political views, and the ads you click in addition to more commonly collected data points such as your phone number, email address, location, and the type of devices you use.
Now imagine, you being served with ads or news based on your race, sex, political views? Well that’s apparently what’s happening – targeted ads and news feeds on your mail, on your Google news feed, or your Facebook walls.
Twitter, in comparison, is “comparatively hands-off,” the site notes. The microblogging service, for instance, doesn’t collect your name, gender, or birthday (as Facebook, Google, and Microsoft all do), but Twitter does know your phone number, email address, time zone, what videos you watch, and more.
Google and Microsoft are the other big players when it comes to collecting data.
“With Cortana listening in and Gmail seeing all of your emails, the ubiquitous nature of Google and Microsoft gives them access to an uncomfortably large amount of your information,” Security Baron wrote.
Check out the full infographic to see what Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Microsoft may know about you.
First published on Oct. 30, 2019
