[ad_1]
When it was revealed that Google was letting application developers for Gmail scan and even read your email, we heard what has become the usual excuse for Silicon Valley: that's what you approved
Do not you like Facebook sharing your data with third-party developers? Too bad, it's right there in the privacy policy. What do you say about how Twitter tracks your activity on websites? The company specified this in its data policy.
You have not bothered to read it? And maybe you were angry when you learned last year that Unroll.Me was selling information from your inbox. The CEO of the company found it "heartbreaking", but that's how businesses make money with a free service. In May, the same service announced that it preferred to refuse European users rather than apply the RGPD.
Google, Facebook and others responsible for abuses
Defenders of privacy are fighting against the way industry has been operating for years. Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, says in an email that companies, including Google and Facebook, must take responsibility for how software developers take advantage of your data.
[19659002"Itisnotreasonablepracticaloreffectivetoexpectuserstoknowhowthird-partycompanieswillusetheirpersonaldata"JudgeRotenberg"JustlikeFacebookGoogleisresponsibleforthemisuseofpersonaldatabyapplicationdevelopers"
In some cases, the user may disable data sharing, or stop using the application. service. Yet it is hard not to feel that our privacy is being violated. Consumer reaction is becoming a major challenge for technology companies. They are clashing with lawmakers, lawsuits and the threat of regulation of data policies for which they insist they have always been transparent.
Fatemeh Khatibloo, Forrester Analyst , believes that technology companies need to specify to users the counterpart of access to free services. "He should very clearly say, 'We provide this service for free because we are monetizing your data by other means,' stresses Khatibloo.
The problem has resurfaced this week following the publication of an article from Wall Street Journal. The site revealed that "hundreds" of third-party application editors could scan your inbox via apps for Gmail. (Gmail has over one billion active users each month.)
In some cases, developer employees have had access to thousands of emails from Gmail users. A developer, Return Path, a marketing company that offers free emailing tools, let its employees read about 8,000 user emails two years ago to help develop the company's software.
Another free application, called Edison Software, which helps users manage their email, has allowed their employees to read thousands of Gmail messages to design the Smart Reply feature of their application, reported the WSJ
Read the emails: Necessary to develop
Return Path and Edison Software claim to have now put an end to this practice. But these two publishers also defend their developers' access to Gmail data, arguing that humans need to see this data to develop software.
"Like anyone else knowing anything about the software does not ignore it, artificial intelligence is the direct result of human intelligence "Defends Return Path in a blog post published on its website.
Giving developers access to your data can be part of the terms of service – be it for giants like Google or Facebook, or startups of 20 people – but people often do not realize exactly what they accept.
an article by Suzanne Frey, director of security, trust and privacy for Google Cloud, Google examines all the applications it allows to request data via Gmail.
"We encourage you Let's take a look at the permissions screen before allowing access to an application other than Google, "Frey recommends. To check which apps already have access to your account, you can perform a security check on the Google Account page badociated with your Gmail account.
Google announced last year that it stopped scanning emails users to obtain data that enables marketers to target advertising. Since then, data privacy by third-party application developers has become a hot topic. In March, Facebook acknowledged that Cambridge Analytica, a digital consulting firm linked to Trump's presidential campaign, had abusively accessed the personal information of 87 million social network users.
Khatibloo points out that the controversy Gmail is more about Gmail users. She recalls that if she had sent an email to a user of Return Path or Edison, her employees would also have been able to read her emails.
"I do not agree that my data be examined by Return Path, but by signing up for the service, someone to whom I sent an email gave consent for me "considers Khatibloo. "And I think it's a serious violation of privacy."
[ad_2]
Source link
