In an interview with “Kiplinger” magazine, Florian Schaub, assistant professor in the U-M School of Information, discusses how to protect your data given recent concerns about FaceApp, a Russia-based photo manipulation app whose privacy policy made broad claims about how they might reuse images.
According to Schaub, unbundling specific aspects of opt-in privacy policies would provide users more control on how their data is shared. He also advises users to be wary of apps that offer to pay users in exchange for tracking online activity and to think twice about data privacy before downloading new apps.
“When using a new app, stop to think how it’s making money and if you trust the app to use your data in a way you agree with. Then change your privacy settings to opt out of things,” says Schaub. “And don’t say yes to every permission dialog box that comes up. For example, does the app really need to know your location?”
