If you have ever felt watched when talking about a desired purchase and, shortly afterwards, come across advertisements for the product on your cell phoneknow that your suspicions may be justified.
In fact, many applications and online platforms collect data about our internet activities for various purposes.
These can range from improving user experience to selling personalized ads, which represents an important source of revenue for calls big techs.
Currently, discussions about user security and privacy are gaining more and more space in society.
Given this, technology companies argue that collecting data allows them to improve account security and adapt the services offered to users’ preferences.
However, this information is also used for profit purposes, such as selling targeted advertisements.
Concerns about the privacy of users has led many governments around the world to set limits on what companies can do with the data they collect.
In Brazil, the General Data Protection Law (LGPD), sanctioned in 2018, is an example of this movement.
Location access: allow or not?
Find out whether or not it is safe to share your location – Image: Unsplash/Reproduction
Providing data from location is a clear example of this dilemma between security and privacy.
Map and GPS applications, as well as transportation applications, need the user to allow access to this information to function correctly.
However, other applications may not need access to this information, and it is important for the user to analyze on a case-by-case basis when it is worth providing this data.
Location as a security factor
Despite the privacy risks, providing location can be crucial in emergency situations.
For example, cell phone tracking can allow you to quickly locate missing people or recover devices stolen.
Tracking technology can also enable communication and rapid rescue in critical situations.
Freedom of choice
In short, the decision to allow or not allow data collection and location availability must be a personal choice, based on an analysis of the benefits and risks in each situation.
Technology has advanced enough to allow us to have both security and privacy at the same time – and it is our role to demand both.
In the end, the most important thing is to be aware and make conscious choices about how we interact with technology, always taking into account the implications for our safety and security. privacy.
