As the online age progresses, privacy concerns keep growing, with apps, software, and devices tracking our every move. Shockingly enough, many of these invasive efforts looks into your private information are legally allowed as you permit it. While we’ll look at various helpful tools, like a mobile proxy, to keep your devices non-invasive, we first look at how these apps collect your information.
How Devices Invade Your Privacy?
The primary device used to learn your information is the one we use the most, namely, your smartphone. However, there are various ways to collect your data, and below, we look at the most common ways.
Smartphone Location
Most smartphones have settings that allow them to track your location. Some are as simple as the “Find my iPhone/Android” feature, while others are built-in features of the device’s standard software. Shockingly, this feature is automatically active, and you’ll often need to remove the permissions manually to stop your device from tracking your location.
App Installations
Part of your smartphone is the apps you download and install on it. Android, and to a lesser degree iOS, is known to have tracking features in many of its apps. Further, these apps can gather information about you, like your preferences on products and services, your address, name, number, email, etc., and share it with other parties.
The worst part is that you give the app permission to do so. When you accept the user terms and conditions, there’s often a part in these terms along the lines of “the app is allowed to share information about you to third-party affiliates, partners, and employees.” This line means the app shares your information with companies you have nothing to do with.
Browser Cookies
Most of the time, when you access a website, a notification asking to allow cookies will pop up. These cookies track what you look at on the website and any activity you do. Cookies can even track your activities after you leave the site as it’s installed on your device. While this means the website will remember your preferences when you revisit it, it can also share this information with affiliates. Suddenly ads from other companies offering their products start popping up.
Why is this Privacy Invasion Dangerous?
When reading this article, you might wonder, “Why does it matter if it tracks me?”. Most of the time, all this lack of privacy will result in targeted ads and marketing emails. However, it’s easy for a hacker to use the information these apps and devices store to access your confidential data.
In these cases, your payment information, social security number, or address can be made public or sold on the dark web. It can also be a means to track your movements, establish your routines, and suddenly some strange person on the internet knows where you’ll be Tuesday at noon.
Lastly, even if a hacker doesn’t access your information, do you really want to become spammed with marketing emails? Targeted marketing on its own isn’t the worst thing, as it’s primarily focused on online ads you see when accessing a website. However, it can also be that companies share your email address or even your phone number, and suddenly your inbox is full of unknown emails and you’re getting spammed with sales calls.
How to Protect Your Privacy
You might feel this is something you should accept, but tools like a mobile proxy will help protect your privacy. There are also various other ways to protect your privacy, and we consider some easy ones you can implement right now.
Adjust Your Settings
The first is to consider the automated settings on your phone. You can navigate to the smartphone’s settings and turn off the location services or choose which apps have access to what information. However, it’s important to note that often deactivating some location services means the app won’t work as it should, like any Maps app, for example.
Thoroughly Read the Terms
Before you install a new game, app, or any other software, thoroughly read the terms and conditions. Unfortunately, there’s nothing you can do to change the terms. So if you find something you don’t like in it, all you can do is not download the app. However, doing this will help you better understand what you’re signing up for and what information the app can collect and share about you.
Use Proxies
Using a mobile proxy is an easy way to block any unnecessary tracking cookies and invasive attempts. Proxies are tools that stand between you and the internet, routing your requests and handling the online traffic for you. Since you never make direct contact with the website or app you’re using, it can’t access your IP address and other information.
Proxies for mobiles are even more secure, often using a pool of residential IP addresses to protect your information. With a proxy server, you can set your location to anywhere you’d like, which disables any location tracking while using an app. It can also help prevent targeted ads and block you from accessing malicious websites.
Keep Your Device Non-invasive
No one wants to carry a device that tells everything about you to someone you don’t know. However, there’s not a lot you can do to stop it completely. Many apps and software require these permissions for you to use them, and your phone doesn’t work as well without them. However, that’s why a mobile proxy is an effective solution. With a proxy server active, you can give the required permissions and still enjoy your privacy.
