The news today is all about the violation of privacy by tracking codes in "apps" and operating systems.
Right off, I'm going to come out and say that I have no problem with a company wanting to make money. I am never against that idea. I have no objections to these tracking codes being used howsoever the developer of the app (short for "application" or program for those of you who are relatively app-less about these things) desires.
What twists my weenie is when these things are being done without the explicit knowledge and consent of the user. Another thing that kind of gets me about all this is the fact people want all this "convenience" for "free".
App developers rarely make a lot of money on their applications sales. What usually gives them collateral (and a much better over time) income is the use of data - yours, specifically, or rather those who use their apps. They take this information and sell it (or share it in a revenue-sharing system) to advertisers who want to bombard you with ads that are "relevant" to you. So far, no problem. This is part of the business world and I'm good with that. After all, if you want to take advantage of the app, you live with the consequences of a developer's lack of income from app sales, their need to stay in cat food and kitty litter and a hungry-for-your-personal-tracking-data advertising agency's deep pockets.
But then comes the creepy part. Developers don't usually EXPLICITLY and SEPARATELY tell you that your personal information (which, by the way, aside from location data, is pretty much "public knowledge" already) will be shared with people you may not want it shared with. That's where the model falls down. You bought an app that tattles on you to people you don't know and probably don't want to know and no one ever told you it did that.
Boo-hoo on you for not reading the fine print.
Unfortunately, people are stupid (I believe I covered that part not too long ago), and go zipping through those End User License Agreements without ever reading the damn things. While I don't necessarily blame them (most of them are written from standard stock in Legaleze , with a few changes buried in Section MMCCXXII, subsection 984, Paragraph 73, heading, B, subject 2 entitled, "How we'll steal everything about your life and have you love it", but I digress), the fact is, it's in there SOMEWHERE in the fine print.
Microscope not included.
So, basically, you have a bunch of people whining about a company or app doing something to which they agreed in the first place.
This isn't so much a "steal their data" issue as it is a stupid people issue. And, to be honest, all developers know they have to idiot-proof their apps, so why they don't idiot-proof their EULA's (And yes, the developer is who puts it into the app so you can click on "I Agree" without ever reading the thing) is beyond me. Did the developers think this kind of thing wouldn't come out? That it would remain a deep, buried secret for all eternity? That people wouldn't skip the reading part and just go on to the Agreeing part?
So these days, you have a bunch of people who are pissed because they were too stupid to read the fine print. You also have some unscrupulous developers who hid what they're doing so far down in the fine print no one can find it without a lawyer, a microscope and the patience of Job.
The bottom line is that we have to idiot-proof the EULA methods. Yes, it's a lot easier to click "I agree" once, but if there wasn't enough time between the showing of the window and the selection of the "I Agree" button for someone to actually READ the thing, at some point, there should be another box that pops up (with a nasty, raspberry sound) saying,
"YOU IDIOT! YOU JUST AGREED TO DONATE YOUR RIGHT KIDNEY!
ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DO THAT?
CLICK YES TO PROCEED,
CLICK NO TO GO BACK AND ACTUALLY READ WHAT YOU JUST IGNORED!!!"
Something tells me that would get their attention.
Of course, it could be approached a bit more reasonably, but no less "in your face"":
"YOU HAVE JUST AGREED TO HAVING ALL OF YOUR PERSONAL DATA, CONTACT INFORMATION, CONTACTS AND/OR TRACKING LOCATION DATA SHARED UNCONDITIONALLY WITH OTHER ADVERTISING AND DEVELOPING COMPANIES.
ARE YOU SURE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT TO DO?
CLICK YES TO PROCEED OR NO TO CANCEL INSTALLATION."
Then another one that says, "ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE YOU WANT TO DO THIS?"
The selections will be "I Don't Care Who Knows All About Me and don't give a crap about my contacts or anyone else for that matter" and "I Have Second Thoughts".
People being idiots will, of course, skip these messages, too, but you can't say they weren't warned. And, yes, there WILL be people who will agree to all of this simply because they don't care. That's fine. The people who do will not bother installing apps which locate them and tattle on them.
Privacy is, literally, what you make it. I've managed to get along all my life without any apps which track me (Yes, I have a Smartphone, no I have no Internet on it, yes, I have blocked Data use, no, I don't miss all those stupid apps out there) except, perhaps, 911. I'm good with that. But people who wish to pay for "convenience" must realize that the price of enjoying those conveniences is always a surrender of their privacy.
