Signal Fall 2019 Newsletter

www.alliancecom.net 15 Europe Legislates Stronger Online Data Protection Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) went into effect in 2018, creating new standards for online privacy. Based on this law, companies must ask for user consent before collecting or mining personal data. That data can include not just personal facts about an individual but also their online habits such as browsing history. The law even compels company websites to ask for permission from each viewer to use cookies, which are bits of data that track what you’re doing online. Cookies are often used for innocuous purposes, such as maintaining your login information or suggesting products based on those you’ve already viewed. But compa- nies must still now ask for consent to use them. According to NPR, “Companies that violate the new rules face penalties of up to 4 percent of their global annual revenue or 20 million euros (about $25 million), whichever is higher.” 3 That may be why some tech giants have vowed to extend these privacy protections to all their customers. According to Axios , “Even those who don’t actively choose Google’s services still probably have a fair amount of infor- mation landing on its servers.” 1 That’s because Google provides widely used ad and analytics tools to other companies. Personalized Services Google uses all this data about you for two main purposes: 1. To make their services more useful— YouTube is a good example of how Google uses your data to help you. The Google website states, “YouTube recommends videos you may like based on what you have watched before and what other people with similar viewing histories have watched before.” 2. To target ads to interested shoppers— Targeted advertising is the reason you’ll see multiple promotions for a product you’ve viewed online. Depending on how you look at it, these purposes can be seen as helpful, convenient, bothersome, creepy, or maybe a combination of these adjectives. Experts note that while Google offers free services like Google Docs, Gmail, and YouTube, they aren’t really free. When you use Google products, you “pay” with your personal data, which Google then uses to sell advertising to third-party companies. Many users, not understanding this business model, enter into this agreement unknowingly. However, an article from Wired noted, “Google has…increasingly prioritized building in privacy protections for new services and features early in the development process. Google has also devoted significant resources to devel- oping its Security and Privacy Checkup tools, which walk users through a sort of explanatory checklist of how Google’s data controls work and what options are available.” 2 See safety.google/privacy/data for more about how Google uses your data. How to Limit Google’s Reach While it may not be possible to entirely eliminate your relationship with Google, there are some steps you can take to minimize it: Sign out of Google. Check your Chrome browser. Is there a little photo of you in the upper-right corner? That means you’re signed in to Google. But you don’t have to be. Just click the photo, choose Sign out , then browse as you normally would to prevent your searches being associated with your identity. You’ll have to sign back in to do things like read a Google Doc or check your Gmail. Use another search engine. In particular, Duck Duck Go (duckduckgo.com) allows you to block advertising trackers, keep your search history private, and take control of your personal data. Change the way you browse. Instead of using Google’s Chrome browser, use Firefox or Safari, or use Chrome in Incognito mode (see support.google.com/ chrome/answer/95464 to learn how). Change your phone. Google owns Android, so if you use a phone with an Android operating system there’s not much you can do. Google also pays Apple to make its search engine the default on iOS phones, but you can change the default. 3 www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/ 2018/04/16/602851375/europe-s-sweeping- privacy-laws-prompt-new-norms-in-u-s 1 www.axios.com/what-google-knows-about-you-3f6c9b20-4406-4bda-8344-d324f1ee0816.html? 2 www.wired.com/story/google-privacy-data/