Lesson 2: Privacy Policies & User Agreements

Lesson reviewing privacy policies, user agreements, data theft, online privacy

Privacy Policies & User Agreements

With each intermediary come the ‘user agreement’, ‘privacy policy’ and ‘cookie consent’ with which you must agree in order to access the service. Being online isn’t as straightforward as it once seemed.

Here’s a fun fact: it is estimated that if you were to read all the User Agreements that you accepted online it would take you seventy six hours per year! No wonder no one reads them!

Embedded deep within the dense legal jargon of these user agreements and policies you will find waivers and authorizations that grant intermediaries access not only to your private data (your name, phone number, address, credit card details, etc.), but also detailed metadata (data collected about you as a result of your use of their services, such as your location information, device information, and IP address). Google’s privacy policy defines it as broadly as this: “Information you give us” and “Information we get from your use of our services.”

The scariest part? The intermediaries’ user agreements and privacy policies give them the right to define what is “your data” and what is “their data.” You, as a user, don’t have a say.

Key Takeaway: Every day, corporate intermediaries collect personal information from and about their users, who have no control over how others use their own information.

The purpose, therefore, of securing your online privacy is to safeguard your ability to use the digital world while minimizing the risk of having your data used, possibly against your interests, without your consent.