In 2018, Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s (recently rebranded to Meta) CEO, came out and assured us that all our data is well-secured from prying eyes. But then, what happened about a year later was astonishing in the context of Facebook’s pledge to safeguard its users’ data. Then, in mid-2019, a massive data leak from Facebook left the data of over 530 million users from 106 countries exposed to fraudsters and all sorts of people with no good intentions. Since then, the conversation about the vulnerability of user data online has been getting more intense.
Well, whether you know it or not, your data is being used by many sites on the internet for two main purposes, improving your user experience and marketing. Besides social media sites like Facebook, gaming platforms such as vulkanvegas.com/ca also usually collect your data via cookies to make your experience on the site better, sending you better suggestions based on your activity on the site.
But then, the Facebook fiasco made tons of online users question the security and privacy of their online activity. Tech companies took notice of increased emphasis on data security, and some of them are doing something about it, with Apple being one of the biggest trendsetters of this movement.
In late April 2021, Apple’s iOS 14.5 has introduced an “opt-out of being tracked” option that enables you to prevent websites and social media apps from tracking your online footprint. So, what consequences does this hold for you? Are they all positive or negative? Take a few minutes to find out.
You May Miss Out on Many Great Deals
Ever wondered how it is that when you are interested in buying a car, all your Facebook and Instagram ads are now cars for sale? Well, this isn’t purely coincidental or the heavens pushing you to get that car. Instead, most of these apps work with each other to track your data and promote ads of precisely what you’re looking to purchase.
However, the biggest concern is that these apps still retain your data even after using and storing your data to market deals to you. Moreover, while your recent searches may have been an avenue for advertisers to find out what exactly you like, some online users could view this as a major invasion of privacy.
Nonetheless, you’ve managed to get all those great deals that you’ve been getting through these apps simply because they track your data. So, if you are a fan of online shopping like most people are, you might want to rethink clicking that “opt-out” option.
Emergency Scenarios
Another scary aspect of these apps tracking you is that they know your location. For a lot of users, this reason is enough to decide to click that “opt-out of tracking” option. But again, you might want to hold off on cutting app-tracking off if you give it a second thought. It may not be such a terrible thing for these apps to know your location after all.
Before you hiss, ‘what an absurd thing to say!’, picture yourself in an emergency where your phone’s GPS is off. You can’t be traced at all, and your only hope is that these apps somehow lead your loved ones via the last location they traced you to. With this in light, tracking your location might not be such a bad thing.
Parental Guidance
Today’s world wide web is filled with so much information to consume – from valid news to fake news to inappropriate content. As a parent, it’d be reassuring to know that your child views the right content. The tracking of their online data should serve as an assurance of the kind of content your child views. Essentially, your child clicking the “opt-out of tracking” option on their iPhone means that they are operating in incognito, a scary prospect for any parent.
The Other Side of the Coin: Identity Theft Protection
It is far from being all great when it comes to allowing these apps to track your data. Your personal details circulating the internet is a nightmarish situation. Imagine your date of birth, the place you were born, where you live and financial details all on the internet for people to see. The worst thing about this is that we aren’t talking about a movie script. It is a reality that happens worldwide daily.
The prospect of this data leaking is very dangerous should this information land in the wrong hands. We’ve heaped praise on the tracking option for some aspects discussed above. Yet we cannot ignore the reality of things: clicking that “opt-out of tracking” option is a step forward in protecting your identity and personal details.
Bottomline
Location and app tracking will always be a contentious issue in the tech world. It’s a grey area that needs to be looked at objectively. It is pretty easy to pass harsh judgment upon many of these apps tracking user information, but it’s not nearly as simple as it seems. There are perks to having the tracking feature on your iPhone, but we also cannot ignore the myriad of valid complaints peddled against such apps. Whether you opt-out of being tracked or decide to stay, there are consequences you have to deal with.