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Facebook Cambridge Analytica data scandal: We are giving away way too much data to apps on Facebook and Android than needed.

The world seems to have suddenly woken up to the perils of offering our data free to tech companies. But the fact is that the Cambridge Analytica incident is not really a surprise. It has just reinforced what most of us believed all along, that our data will be misused. But then we did not raise as much as a byte-size sigh in protest.

But it is time to ask some important questions. Why does a game app for instance, need to know which school you went to or where you work? Why does a one-time DP change require you to surrender your friends list? And you will realise that you are giving away way too much data to apps on Facebook and Android than needed. To be fair, both the platforms have links where you can see what they know about you and even offer some options to edit the same. You should start using these to figure out what these platforms know and if you want the platforms to know that much about you. I tried and some of the details are a bit scary.

This is the point where you take control of your data. Update settings on Android apps to stop uploading data you are not comfortable sharing, delete random apps on Facebook that might be using your logins and stop sharing unnecessary location data and other personal details online. Yes, this will reduce your overall experience, but at least you will be sure that no one is making money out of your data.

This is, in fact, the other important angle we all need to look at. For long, the world wide web has worked on the rule that you will get a lot of good services for free, provided that the service providers get to use your data to serve you relevant ads and other services on which they make money. Google, for instance, thrives on this. So does Facebook and a lot of other internet companies. Once you start unplugging your data, this business model starts crumbling.

Don’t be surprised if Silicon Valley starts looking at new business models where we pay a premium to keep our data to yourselves, but be able to access the services which were otherwise free. Given that a lot of us are unhappy with our data being misused, this might actually be a good thing for all stakeholders. However, it remains to be seen how many will actually put their cash on the table to access services they were till now getting for free.

Sources by: TheIndianEXPRESS