Do Big Tech Know About You?

Recent and seemingly endless Facebook privacy scandals, including the most recent one involving users as young as 13, may have you wondering how well social media and other tech giants know you.

Here’s a hint: almost everything they know.

The Security Baron staff checked the privacy policies of Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Microsoft, and compiled a helpful infographic that shows the types of data each company supports collecting. For Facebook and other companies, data is money. But the extent to which these tech giants know you can be surprising.

As you can see from the infographic below, Facebook is particularly eager for data. It even collects information about your job, income level, race, religion, political views, and the ads you click, as well as more common data points. Phone number, email address, location, and type of device you use.
“Facebook is extremely aggressive,” Security Baron pointed out. “These data can be used by advertisers and (hopefully not harmful) others.” The site pointed out that, in contrast, Twitter is “relatively non-interfering.” For example, the Weibo service does not collect your name, gender, or date of birth (Facebook, Google, and Microsoft do), but Twitter does know your phone number, email address, time zone, videos you watch, and more. . .

At the same time, Google and Microsoft are the other big players in data collection.
“As Cortana monitors and Gmail monitors all your emails, the ubiquitous nature of Google and Microsoft allows them to access a lot of your information,” Security Baron wrote.
Check out the full infographic below to see what Facebook, Google, Apple, Twitter, Amazon, and Microsoft know about you. For tips on how to protect your digital privacy, check out our story, “Online Data Protection 101: Don’t let big tech companies use your information to get rich.

Also Read: The Unknown Chrome Features

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