The virtual world is watching us

Perhaps you do not remember, but in 2014 the first alarming news that Google Chrome would have the ability to "hear" what the user speaks, even after closing the browser appeared (Jan. 2014, Olhar Digital). Five years later, facing a turn of the decade, we still see news of people feeling increasingly exposed and having their personal life invaded not only by Google, but by many other companies and applications.

In this year’s March, the online newspaper Diário da Região, of São José do Rio Preto (Brazil), published an article in which, once again, it tells the story of victims of this data exhibition, that is often not even shared in any electronic device before being captured. The article says that one of the biggest problems of information leakage nowadays is that it can’t be be called 'leakage'. It happens that a user grants, unnecessarily, access permissions to several applications, which most of the time guarantee their rights to use the information and access in terms of use, which are rarely read.

A higher percentage of these applications end up selling the user's data to companies that, from this content, will be able to customize the type of ad, news and information that this user will receive, which generally results in more purchases and disclosures of specific information by the user.

This possibility to sell data itself is already a problem. But the situation can become even more dangerous when the applications that capture the data are unreliable, often not coming from official repositories, and choose to sell the data for espionage, blackmail, and so on. It's good to remember that this data can include real-time location, audio and video recording, screenshots, personal images, and any kind of data or files that are on the device.

As it is of little use to worry about the news without knowing how to act from now on, I list below some steps, so you can know what kind of information the internet has about you and how to prevent more data from being captured.

1 - Applications and programs

 If the reliable is no longer very reliable, the more reliable the better. Did it make sense?

Before downloading any type of software, be sure that:

• The source or repository is official;

• That the selected software is correct and not some generic or fake version;

• You check reputation, evaluation and comments;

• You pay attention to the permissions you will grant and reflect whether such software really needs access to your contacts to work;

• You read the terms of use, ALWAYS.

2 - Social networks and search engines

As I mentioned at the beginning, one of the first alerts regarding online data capture was about Google. Unfortunately, this is not the only company that can afford to retain our personal information. Find out what some networks have retained about you:

• Facebook: go to 'Settings' and 'Your information on Facebook'. From this page you can access, manage and download all the information that Facebook has about you. In addition, you can delete your accounts and information from the network.

• Twitter: go to 'Settings and Privacy' and go to the 'Your Twitter details' tab. There you can request to download your data from Twitter and Periscope.

• Instagram: go to 'Settings' and then 'Privacy and security'. At the bottom of the page there is an option to download data.

• Google: In the 'Google Account' section, go to the 'Data and Personalization' tab. There you can see your activity (which includes activities made by you and recorded from you) and how the ads are personalized. You can manage and control your activity there as well.

• General activity on the Internet: some sites, concerned with data capture, do a general search around the virtual world to show you how vulnerable our information is and how it is constantly being accessed. Two sites that do this are YourAdChoices and WebKay. 

How to protect yourself

In fact, it gets harder and harder to get away from this kind of exposure. That is why it is important that we take all possible precautions to prevent our data from being captured, even if for "just" advertising purposes. Some ways to do this:

• Communicate through applications that ensure content encryption. WhatsApp is one of the communicators that ensures this functionality, at least for now.

• Make sure the browser you use (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) is minimally protected with extensions such as AdBlock, which blocks unwanted ads and spam; RedMorph, which blocks tracking signals; among others. But remember any application, program or protection extension should always be official.

• Be careful what type of content you share, even through encrypted messages. Sensitive images, compromising messages... Any data is at risk of being leaked. We can never over-police what information we provide to the virtual world. 

For better or worse, data exposure tends to increase. This is because we increasingly require transparency from government agencies and large companies, which ends up implying general policies for the capture and use of user data.

Stay tuned for your data in the virtual world in the same way you protect your physical documents. Virtual data is equally important and often more dangerous.

Translated from: https://www.perallis.com/news/o-mundo-virtual-nos-observa