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There are many apps that you install on your phone, whether it is an Android phone or an iPhone for the first time, which gives you the option of requesting permission to track your geographic location to give you the best experience, such as that: navigation apps, weather or food orders, and while asking such apps to track your location can be Naturally because it’s part of their business
But some apps ask for permission to track your location and it’s not necessary for their job, and they often want to collect your data for the purpose of selling it to ad companies, but have you ever wondered what data is it? location tracking apps collect in your phone?
According to a new study published by researchers (Mirco Musolesi) from the University of Bologna in Italy and (Benjamin Baron) from University College London, the personal data collected by these applications is very sensitive.
When the two researchers used an app they developed specifically for this study, and up to 69 study participants installed the app on their phones for at least two weeks, in an effort to find out the amount of location data and personal information collected by these apps, and the results were very terrifying.
During this period, over 200,000 websites were tracked, nearly 2,500 locations were identified, and around 5,000 pieces of personal information related to demographics and personality were collected, while respondents according to the study believed that the most sensitive data collected through the app was related to their health, socioeconomic status and race, as well as their religion.
In this regard, researcher Mirco Musolesi says: “We believe it is important to show users the quantity and quality of data collected, especially what apps can collect by tracking their geographic location. It’s equally important for us to understand whether users think sharing information with app developers or marketing companies is okay, or they see it as an invasion of their privacy. “
He added: “This study may help shed light on the development of systems capable of automatically preventing the collection of sensitive data from third parties – third parties – thanks to previously defined privacy settings, which means that more applications may draw attention to the presence of site settings enabled., The data collected exactly, or show what violates the privacy of the user.
What should you do to prevent these apps from tracking your location?
If you don’t want the apps you installed on your phone to collect your personal data and information and track you, the best solution is to turn off location services, Bluetooth connectivity and Wi-Fi when not in use. , in addition to giving the applications as few permissions as possible, and enabling the browser’s Privacy settings to prohibit the use of location data and the use of any of the trusted VPN services.
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