KARACHI:
We have entered an age where money is no longer the primary source of power — it is information. Every site that you visit and every click that you make is being efficiently stored in the information cloud. As a result, even without knowing it your information can be easily sold or used by applications and programmes that you download on your devices. It also gives intelligence agencies the ability to track an individual’s every move by working with global information seller.
Recently, Whatsapp started rolling out its app-update notifications earlier this week claiming there had been a change in its Terms of Services and Privacy Policy due to its partnership and integration with Facebook. This new policy helps them to collect information about messaging, calling, status updates, groups (including group name, group picture, group description), payments, business features, profile photo, and your last seen. The prerequisite of using the application is to accept these conditions, which means that you are actively giving them permission to use all this information.
Many people have felt rather betrayed by this change while others are claiming that they might just stop using the application altogether. However, not many are aware that all online sites will incorporate such policies in the near future. At the back end, companies have started to gather information and sell it without you even knowing — the most absurd thing about all this is that it is completely legal since you are “coerced” into accepting the terms.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 11th, 2021.
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