Over the past decade, a large and opaque industry has been amassing increasing amounts of personal data.1,2
A complex ecosystem of websites, apps, social media companies, data brokers, and ad tech firms track users online and offline, harvesting their personal data. This data is pieced together, shared, aggregated, and monetized, fueling a $227 billion-a-year industry. This occurs everyday, as people go about their daily lives, often without their knowledge or permission.3,4 Let’s take a look at what this industry is able to learn about a father and daughter during a pleasant day spent at the park.
“I believe people are smart and some people want to share more data than other people do.
Ask them. Ask them every time. Make them tell you to stop asking them if they get tired of your asking them. Let them know precisely what you’re going to do with their data.”
Steve Jobs
All Things Digital Conference, 2010
This thread was posted by one of our members via one of our news source trackers.
Haven’t had a chance to read this yet - but will be curious to see how it reflects on the recent complaints people have had about Apple ‘spying on them and their app use’.
I think for 99% of apps there is no way on earth any of us would give any apps permission to access our photos if we knew they could and were accessing any of them whenever they want without us specifically selecting them on a per image upload. Not only that, there is an expectation that apps accepted on to the various app stores do not work in a way that a user does not expect (because hey, that’s in part what they are getting paid for!) so if an app is collecting user’s private photos without their knowledge it should without a doubt be rejected!!
I think we need to get in touch with our local MPs and law makers to look into this - because if apps are downloading user’s photos without their specific consent, they are not only stealing them, but also breaking privacy and computer miss-use laws.
I’m not sure about any of you but I take photos of all sorts of things on my phone (like bank statements, Wills, other important letters etc) and there’s no way on earth I would give any app permission to download any of my that whenever they want to let alone sell it on!
Anyone up for creating a group with a concerted effort to investigate this?
