252. None of your data is yours😊

We have been sharing so much of our data with others that we can’t really say now that the data is ours and we have a right to that.  Many companies offer various freebies and we feel like a moth attracted to it and fall into their trap.  Over a period of time all our data is being shared worldwide and are lying in different parts of the world.  Someday we will realise this and maybe stop sharing our data with others, however tempting the offer may be.

Let me take the example of Gmail.  Almost everyone in this world has used this and majority of them are still using this (including me in sending out this blog😊!).  But we have never tried to find out who else is monitoring what we share.  I went through the terms and conditions of using Gmail.  I was installing Gmail in my new phone and came across some terms saying that Google can compose and send mails on my behalf from my account😊!  I had taken a screenshot of the same to be used in a blog sometime.  However, the screenshot got deleted accidentally (or since my phone is a Google Pixel phone, the screenshot got deleted without my knowledge😊!).  I am now unable to find the exact statement on their website or anywhere else!

Later I checked the Gmail terms and conditions and came across this statement – “We also collect the content you create, upload, or receive from others when using our services. This includes things like email you write and receive, photos and videos you save, docs and spreadsheets you create, and comments you make on YouTube videos”.  This means all your emails in Gmail, all the word and excel documents that you create in your laptop/computer, all the photos that are there in your laptop/computer/mobile are all being accessed by Google😊!!  This means you don’t have any privacy in any of your dealings with others.  Everything is out there and is likely to come out sometime or the other!! And they claim this openly so that tomorrow you cannot complain that your data is being shared with others.  They will simply say that we told you we were watching😊.  And if you don’t want us to watch your data, then don’t use our services!!

Of course, you try to console yourself saying that you are a lone individual and what if Google knows what you are up to. Just the fact that whatever data you have created and shared with your dear ones, can suddenly pop out someday, which may or may not embarrass you!  You may also think that Google is a big company and why would they bother with your data.   Google may not bother, but you cannot tell anything about their employees.  Whatever data is there, it is bound to come out sometime.

The same is true for all the other companies, whose app you download and install.  Many apps ask for permission to use your camera.  These include the grocery apps😊!!  Why would a grocery app need access to your camera in the phone?  Some of the apps do not allow you to access them if you say no to their requirements.  It is safer to keep away from these apps.  In case you give them the right to the use of the camera, they can use it fulltime and record all the daily happening in your life from wherever your phone is.  And these are stored somewhere to be used at a later date😊.

There are some apps that want access to all the SMS’s that you will be receiving.  They will say we require this so that we can identify our SMS and auto-populate the OTP that their company is sending you.  Just to be free of typing the OTP, you will give permission and then all your SMS’s are their property😊!  And if you think that they will only watch the SMS’s from their own service, you are mistaken.  This is saying that give me the key to your house and I will use only the hall for my work😊 and I won’t check the other rooms in the house!! Some apps will ask permission for your phone log and Contacts and lo and behold the entire data from your phone is with them.  Like recently it happened with various Chinese loan-giving-apps in Hyderabad.  People used the app to get some Rs 2,000-5,000 as instant loan without going through the terms and conditions as is the norm for installing any apps in your mobile😊!  They were charged some 200-300% interest.  When people refused to pay the amount the app company simply morphed their photo on porn photos and sent them to all the contacts in their phone!  Imagine the plight of these people.  Many people had to take their own life due to this.

So, next time you use any app, check what all permission it is asking for.  It might also happen that even if you have not given the access, they might still access the data and keep it with them.  When you are installing any App, you are not recording the installation, right?  So, the company can say that you did give the permission😊!  You don’t have any proof of not having given the access!!   Just think hard whether you definitely need that app and then go ahead.  Please be assured that any data from your phone can be accessed by ALL the apps that you have installed.

As long as you are aware that whatever you create and share can one day come back to bite you, it is ok.  You don’t have anyone else to blame for it.  You wanted something free, and got it.  So what, if everyone else knows about it😊?

Cheers till next time😊!!