Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Facebook security app used to 'spy' on competitors
What you do online is a valuable resource to Facebook, an online social media and social networking service company. A cross-party committee of the House of Commons, the lower house of the UK Parliament, accused the online giant of breaching data privacy and anti-competition laws by using an app to gather information on competitors. The app is said to be used to collect what other apps were downloaded and how often they are used by the user. Facebook then used that information to decide whether to acquire or disrupt the potential rival. Also, such data was sold, or given as a favor, to other app developers or research firms without clear consent to the users.
Since what you do, see, or search are all logged in the device you use and collected by the app developer, there has been no privacy protection until recently when EU General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR, came into effect in 2018, which describes situations where a company can collect or reuse personal information. But how strictly the protection law is abided by? Also, the same practice can be made by any other GAFA company, Google, Amazon or Apple, which collect all sorts of data as to what their users do online and make use of it to gain competitive advantage and financial return.
While being known makes your life easier, it could also violate your privacy.
Enjoy reading and think which your priority is convenience or privacy.
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