Health information and copies of documents may be at risk if you have checked the box for online consent to the processing of personal data.
An investigation by the reputable British daily Daily Mail has identified a number of covert information gathering and sharing companies, and claims against Google have long since gone global. Large organizations may use customer personal data for targeted advertising and transmission to their partners.
How customers are forced to agree to data processing
Various commercial organizations request a variety of information to provide their services and by the nature of their activities have access to data from some areas of their clients' lives.
How often do you read the text of consent to the processing of personal data, without giving it, you simply cannot use the service or application? Basically it is thousands of words, and most documents reflecting the company's privacy policy have a caveat that "no storage system is 100% secure."
The “accept” field appears when making a purchase, downloading a free program, or registering for an online service, such as booking a flight, creating an email account, or registering for a delivery, but no one really understands what is happening with their details Further. This is in the vast majority of cases veiled or hidden.
Information is regularly stolen, but even more often it is simply used by abusing trust firms that make mega-profits on it.
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Loud names of the accused
About a dozen British business giants have come under the scrutiny of the Daily Mail, including:
- Marriott International is an international hotel management company headquartered in the United States, operating in 150 countries around the world, with a database of 500 million guests;
- Facebook ("Facebook") - the company that owns the world's largest social network of the same name;
- Asda ("Asda") - a supermarket chain in the UK that sells food, clothing and other various goods, as well as a hyper online store where you can buy almost anything;
- Tesco ("Tesco") - British multinational corporation, the largest retail chain in the UK;
- Paypal ("PayPal") - the largest debit electronic payment system;
- BT ("BT Group" - formerly "British Telecommunications" or "British Telecom") is a British telecommunications company providing fixed and mobile telephony and Internet services, broadcasting its own TV channels and relaying other companies, as well as providing many additional services for businesses and individuals, such as voicemail, teleconferencing and web conferencing.
In addition, the American transnational public corporation Google, which was reorganized in October 2015 into the international conglomerate Alphabet Inc., is involved in scandals and litigations around the world - from the company's native United States to the European Union.
What exactly happens: the nature of the charge
Alarming figures are emerging regarding the extent of personal information obtained and sold by transnational corporations that are engaged in covert data collection, use and exchange.
Violations relate to health information, recordings of children's voices, copies of various identity documents.
An example would be:
terms of pregnancy of women outsourced to Asda for marketing purposes
using Google to promote other apps of children's voices recorded on YouTube Kids
photographs of passports provided by PayPal for account verification were likely transferred to Microsoft for fraud prevention and new product testing
- information about the health, ethnicity and political views of Facebook users is used by the social network for targeted advertising;
- Tesco transmits customer data to BSkyB (British Sky Broadcasting) and links club card purchases with insurance offers from its financial services business;
- BSkyB cross-references its customers' data through Experian (information, analytics and marketing services), Royal Mail (UK National Postal Service) and "open source" to create individual and home user profiles;
profiling BT clients for advertisers based on their browsing history and phone call records
Emails have been posted detailing how Facebook accepted cash in exchange for accessing its users' data. Many companies, including AirBnB, Tinder and Netflix, gain access to Facebook user data if they have placed enough ads. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, wrote in a private letter that access to user data can be licensed to buyers of advertising products, he also clarifies that with a certain ratio of income and the amount of fees for advertising services on the social network, additional payments are possible directly.
Marriott International announced last week that hackers had compromised their database of "some combination" of passport numbers, names, addresses and bank card details. The hotel group also stores the names and ages of their guests' children, their employer information, room service orders, and social media accounts available to all affiliates. Its activities are under investigation by the UK National Information Protection Agency, as well as by the FBI and five separate US states.
Official responses from companies
All companies claim to protect customer data in accordance with the new EU GDPR rules, claiming that the information is encrypted.
However, the successful hacker attack on Marriott speaks to the need for a new level of security. There are also concerns about the tendency for companies to build and store customer profiles for personalized advertising.
A Marriott spokesperson made the following position: “Our guests know we collect personal information. Because Marriott is a global organization … some cross-border communication is needed."
An Asda spokesman commented on the situation: “We take the protection of personal information very seriously, we always process it carefully and in accordance with the data protection law.
A Google spokesman said: “We are constantly improving our privacy and information security issues. We want people to have easy control over their data and choose the level of privacy that is right for them.” The company denies all charges.
A Morrisons (UK supermarket chain) spokesperson said: "We record what customers buy from us and their marketing preferences so we can provide them with deals and coupons that are useful to them."
Facebook declined to formally comment on the allegations, but denied claims of using private data for targeted advertising, despite conflicting information contained in the text describing the company's privacy policy. It openly says that your secrets can be used to form proposals that are more suitable for you.
A UK PayPal spokesperson said: “We share a very limited amount of information with trusted companies to help deliver our services, protect against fraud and other crimes, and keep customers updated on the latest offers.”
A Tesco spokesman said: “We never sell or share our customers' personal data with organizations so that they can use it for their own marketing purposes.”
A BT spokesperson said they used customer information to provide services, but financial data was not included in their profiles.
A representative of Sky BSkyB denied the exchange of "personal information" with its partner companies.
Microsoft declined to comment on its involvement in the proceedings.
Where is the truth?
There is no end in sight to the proceedings. For example, this month alone, seven European states have already launched lawsuits against Google, and they are not the first to publicly protest. The claims are the same - the lack of transparency in the terms of service and hidden surveillance of clients, the transfer of information to the outside, its use for their own purposes. Some call it analysis and statistical research, others call it an unforgivable invasion of privacy.
Despite official objections, there is no certainty about the privacy of the data provided to commercial organizations. Surely you have noticed amazing coincidences more than once, for example, the timely appearance of thematic advertising offers, you just have to make a corresponding request in a search engine, or, even more alarming, having discussed this in a circle of loved ones, without taking your smartphone out of the room.
Author: Natalia Milovanova
