We can disable location tracking on phone apps only to find new apps stalking us. We can turn off personalized advertising and still get bombarded by marketers. We can be fooled by language designed to protect companies’ access to data rather than our privacy.
People struggling financially can be targeted by predatory lenders and other seedy companies. If there’s a database breach, criminals can buy our information for just a few dollars and use it to impersonate or target us for scams.
On iPhones and iPads, go to “Settings,” then “Privacy” to find “Location services.” With Android devices, go to “Settings,” then “Location” to find “App location permissions.”
Regularly check these settings on all of your devices. Delete any app you’re not using. The fewer apps you have, the fewer opportunities companies have to grab and sell your data, says Bob Sullivan, a consumer privacy advocate and author of “Gotcha Capitalism.”
If you use any Google app or service, your location history could be stored and used even after you’ve shut off tracking. Your searches and other activity are stored as well, so consider shutting off Google’s ability to keep that data, Germain says.
To do that, open Google.com in a browser, log in to your account, and click on your icon in the upper right corner. Select “Manage your Google account,” then “Privacy & personalization.”
Under “Your data & privacy options,” choose “Things you’ve done and places you’ve been.” You’ll see options to review the information Google is storing and how to turn off data storage and delete stored histories.
Your devices have similar options. With iPhones and iPads, switch off “allow apps to request to track” in the “Tracking” portion of privacy settings. With Android devices, click “delete advertising ID” under “Ads”in the “Advanced” portion of privacy settings.
If you have an iPhone or iPad, a feature in the iOS 15 operating software update called the “App Privacy Report” can show how you’re profiled and tracked, says Emory Roane, policy counsel for the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse.
“Turn that on, leave it running for a week or two, and then it’ll tell you a very detailed list of which apps are doing what,” Roane says. “It’s a great, great resource for iOS users.”
Many sites and apps ask you to make privacy decisions on the fly, making it easy to click on the wrong spot in your rush to get rid of the popup screen.
Check whether you have other options, such as the Online Privacy Protection service that Discover is rolling out for debit- and credit-card holders.
People are “woefully ill equipped” to fight all the ways our data is being mined and used, Roane says.The real ‘quick tip’ is that you need to call your representative and tell them to support stronger privacy laws,” he says.