Are we ignoring something we shouldn’t?
Data is the 21st century’s currency and cudgel. What I see is a never-ending news flash of how tech superpowers are violating our privacy and using our data. So a question arises in my mind, how do they get their hands on our data?
To answer this question let me ask another question.
What is the similarity between common sense, traffic rules and terms of service agreement?
Well, none of them are taken seriously by us.
Although I can’t do much about common sense and traffic rules, I can shed some light on the “behind the scenes” of accepting a terms of services agreement.
What is a Terms of Services Agreement (ToS)?
The terms of services agreement (ToS) or some might call it terms and conditions agreement, by definition, is a bunch of words placed so uninterestingly that we never read it. ToS is a technique used by applications and websites to protect themselves from liability. It is equivalent to an electronic contract between the user and the service provider.
When accepting the terms of services agreement we are allowing them to manage or access our data the way they want. It is astonishing how much data we put out there and in what ways it is tracked. Whilst it is impossible to stay disconnected from social media and just not share our personal information, it is always wise to be aware of what happens to our data when we put it out there.
I recently stumbled upon a very informative site called “Terms of Services, Didn’t Read”. It bullets the important terms we need to know before using a website or an application.
Websites and applications can be classified into one of the five categories of privacy grades based on their overall privacy policies. With Privacy Grade E being the worst grade an application can get and Privacy Grade A being the best. However, Grade A doesn’t mean that the application has zero privacy issues.
According to ToS;DR, some applications with the worst privacy ratings can do the following things with your data:
- They can read your private messages
- Your identity is used in ads that are shown to other users
- The service can view your browser history
- Deleted content is not really deleted
- They store data on you even if you didn’t interact with the service
- The service tracks you on other websites
- The service can license user content to third parties
So next time, before you hastily accept the terms and services agreement, pause and check out the website ToS;DR for a quick overview on the Terms and Services agreement.
