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Invading Privacy: The leading Tech Issue of 2019

A growing tech concern today has become the increasing invasion of privacy by the cyber world and the tech world. Some ways o
A growing tech concern today has become the increasing invasion of privacy by the cyber world and the tech world. Some ways our privacy is breached.

A growing tech concern today has become the increasing invasion of privacy by the cyber world and the tech world. Many people don’t find themselves safe in the virtual world and find it affecting their real-time lives as well.

While the tech industry is making progress the same cannot be said for the security measures that they take. Many people have been worried to their wits end on account of their contact details/ private information being leaked somehow to people that have used this information to their advantage.

There are many ways that our privacy is breached in the tech world, here are some:

#1 Whatsapp Shares Personal Details With Facebook

When WhatsApp was brought by Facebook three years back, there was a lot of hype around the fact that the contact details of a person shall be shared with the parent company. Though Facebook claims that the contact details of a person are secure, since your Facebook account is linked with your number, it now becomes easier to get a hold of your contact details.

#2 Online Taxi Services Know Your Location

There is nothing scarier than actually allowing a person to know your location and whereabouts. True, the online cab service has made life much easier but there have been many cases where the information of users’ whereabouts has been misused.

#3 Spies In Your House

Take the example of Amazon Echo and Google Home. These services offered by the parent companies are meant to be efficient home assistants but they go on to do more than that. They listen and record our commands, conversations and daily activities. One is forced to wonder what is the use of such surveillance- well Amazon and Google being some of the most popular consumer companies- the information collected by such services is further used to target consumers and so on.

#4 Apps Like Tinder And Pokemon Go Demand Personal Information

Gaming Apps like Pokemon Go not only require insight to your location but also needs your email and your browsing history. This would seem like a bit too much to anyone after all the game demands full access to your Google Account.  Apps like Tinder and Foursquare do the same as far as your location is concerned, and thus there seems to be a lot of information that’s at stake in the use of these apps.

How To Stay Secure

If you’re worried about your own privacy online and otherwise, we have the right tips for you to ensure that you remain cyber-secure.

#1 Be Careful About The Information On Social Media Handles-

Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumbler- there are numerous social media sites that you will be active in your day to day life. Invasion of privacy may thus become a big concern- but there’s a simple way to make sure that you remain secure either way.

Don’t fill out all the information on your social media profile and be very picky about the information that you choose to fill. Do not let out such sensitive data which is highly important to your personal security.

#2 Close Certain Gadgets

Gadgets like Alexa and Google House don’t have to be active all the time. You should make sure that your activities are not all centered around such services and the commands you give to them are few and precise.

Better still if you close them down for a larger part of the day and make sure that you use them only at certain intervals.

#3 Pay In Cash

A lot of online money transactions require you to give a lot of your personal information including your personal number, mail, contact details, and your location. Although it is not always possible to avoid such transactions, you can definitely limit them.

To do so make sure that you’re paying as many things by cash as you can- you need to keep your bank account details as secure as you can so paying by cash should be your first choice.

#4 Don’t Always Turn On The GPS

You have to be careful of the various online services that track your location which could be further misused for various purposes. Make sure that as far as possible your GPS tracker remains locked and closed- if certain apps require your location information, you should definitely check if their demand is valid or not.

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