Protect your privacy
La privacy is a right which is scarce these days. Many software and service companies are collecting vast amounts of data for their own benefit. And on Android, with existing apps, that also happens in many cases. But if you want to preserve your privacy in a better way, you should continue reading this article where important topics such as Android permissions, the consequences of not preserving your privacy, or how to choose between several applications to install the least invasive will be discussed.
Most invasive applications with your privacy
These are the apps that you should not install if you value your privacy:
- Facebook: the app of the famous social network is one of the most invasive with your security, requiring permissions to access your contacts, your call history, your text messages, your camera and microphone, your internal storage, your WiFi network and your location.
- Messenger: Curiously, it is another Facebook app, or Meta, and it has also been shown to be one of the most vulnerable in terms of privacy, since it has been violated several times, it stores logs in plain text, without encryption, it stores message logs and calls, and it seems that it is also related to email spam.
- Whatsapp: Again, it is also their property, an app that despite having end-to-end encryption continues to generate controversy, since it has been compromised more than once and records a large amount of user information.
- word with friends 2: This game is also one of the most invasive, with access to your first and last name, username, gender, age and birthday, email, contacts, in-app purchases, Facebook ID, location, and also tracks your IP, device type and operating system, MAC address, and browser type or language.
- AccuWeather: These types of apps are present in many mobiles and have a large number of services, and access to your location 24/7. Therefore, you have to know how to choose the weather app well or choose not to have it and use an online service.
Why is privacy important?
La data protection and privacy they are important to everyone, be it a consumer or an entrepreneur. And, as a consumer, I know how sensitive this issue is today and how little or no laws are enforced. It is important that you adequately protect yourself against breaches of your private data. The more you understand about data privacy, the more equipped you'll be to help defend against the wide variety of risks.
Is manage the data of customers without allowing third parties access to such data without authorization. Data privacy also includes the information that helps the company run, whether it's R&D data or financial information that shows how the company spends and invests money. It includes the right to control access to one's physical space, one's body, one's own thoughts, one's communications and one's information...
Although the privacy is not in itself a fundamental right, is essential to protect other fundamental rights. Although it could be derived from a right to privacy, various international and regional laws also establish more specific rights for the protection of personal data.
The right to privacy means that groups they cannot obtain your data without your knowledge and use them for their purposes or sell them to third parties. But this is where companies wash their hands, since in the license agreements you agree to hand over your data when you hit Accept. Otherwise you cannot use the app or the service. Therefore, there is not much to do in that case.
Privacy protects us against arbitrary and unreasonable uses of power by states, companies and other actors. As such, privacy is a crucial way of trying to protect ourselves and our societies from arbitrary and unwarranted uses of power, by reducing the amount of information that can be known and made about us, while at the same time protecting us against others who might want to exert control.
Rules that protect privacy provide us with a means of asserting our rights when faced with substantial power imbalances. Privacy is important because we all have right to a private life, separate and distinct from our public life. Privacy is fundamental to who we are as human beings, and we make decisions about life every day. It is important to note that privacy also has value at the level of society as a whole, as it allows sophisticated activities, including research and public health activities, to be carried out in a way that safeguards the dignity of individuals.
El value of privacy of health information it has also been recognized through law. The data privacy policy is more than a protection measure for a company; it is actually an opportunity to increase the value of the brand. In an age where tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, Google and others collect and hold personal information, the right to privacy that prevents tech companies like Facebook from using the data as they see fit is incredibly important. The image of these giants has been stained with some media cases of privacy violations, but they continue on their paths, so that is not enough.
Google Play vs App Store: Security
Apple vs Google, iOS/iPadOS vs Android, App Store vs Google Play. The comparisons and battles between the two are well known to all. But here we must recognize that the Cupertino firm's app store has won the battle, selecting developers more exclusively and charging higher fees for access to the platform compared to Google Play. This has meant that there are fewer apps, but it has also prevented the inclusion of certain suspicious apps that end up escaping the filters and that contain malicious code or are malware.
That means that, in the case of privacy, android he has to go the way of Apple's system to try to get a victory in this battle as well. Otherwise, it will take a step backwards in this regard.
Android permissions
As for the the permits, keep in mind that many of them directly violate your privacy. For example, access to the microphone, access to the camera, access to data, to the contact list, etc. All those app permissions should be avoided when possible. In other words, when installing an app, the one with the best privacy will be the one that requires fewer permissions (or none) to perform the same function, since many times those permissions are not essential to carry out the task for which they were designed. , rather it is an excuse to collect data and profit from it.