Murena, a company that’s engaged in working with privacy-focused smartphones, recently came out with their finding, which revealed a shocking insight into human behavior. As per the details shared, less than one in five Brits check what permissions and type of data an app can access when they download it. The ignorance resulted in about two-thirds of the UK’s population giving their personal data away by failing to check permissions before installing new apps on their devices.
The data that got through these applications varied from their precise location, live, camera access, health information, and even sexual preferences. The collected data is a rich currency, which data brokers and advertisers grossly benefit from, to the detriment of users who often end up spending more time and money online than they intend.
The study revealed that only a small fraction of the total population (about 15 million people in the UK – out of a population of just over 68 million in 2023) are worried about how their data could be used in future. The researcher Gael Duval stated that “once a piece of personal data exists, it can be used and passed on indefinitely – nobody knows how your online behaviors now could be used against you in the future.” He also added that the majority of big tech providers are not open source, and therefore, users have to take a corporation’s word for their claims, but many a time, this trust is betrayed and user data rights breached.
The authorities also need to take responsibility for watching how the companies are using their applications to collect user data. They also need to ensure that companies ask for only those permissions or data that are essential for their operation and no additional permissions are being asked during installation.
