We all know that in order to download various apps either from our phone or tablet we need to give access to our photos, media, files, device id, call information, contacts, calendar, location, camera/microphone, in-app purchases, Wi-Fi access, sms and other. Some apps do not require all above information but FB messenger does and many other well-spread applications we use on a daily basis.
It’s reasonable to give access to our photos if we download an image app, access to our camera for a flash light app but sincerely for what reason do we have to provide access to our sms and contacts in order to be able to download and use an app?
Since for the most we are in a hurry and want to get over with the procedure of downloading and have the application running I guess that many of us do not give so much attention of the terms.
Many of these apps are advertised as free apps, but how free is it actually when we give so valuable information about our lives, our friends, our habits and our location every single moment?
Don’t the terms and conditions of these apps go against our privacy rights? Perhaps someone will argument against this and say just don’t download them then. Yes, but shouldn’t we have the right to use all these applications especially in today’s internet society? Sometimes in order to comment on a website or blog we must have a FB or other social media account otherwise it’s not possible. Sometimes in a more extremely and certainly annoying case we must firstly like a video clip before being able to watch it.
IT law should be promoted in a larger scale and people should be encouraged to demonstrate their privacy rights.
Author: Helena Naaman
