Google, Facebook reading your emails? Here's how you can stop them
One of the worst-kept secrets of the tech world is that none of our secrets are really secrets – at least, nothing we upload on the cloud is. Be it our personal data, our conversations on Messenger, or even the sensitive information that we save on our e-mail boxes. None of it is just for our eyes only.
Yet, every time a report talking about Google reading our emails, or worse a third party application poking its nose into our personal data makes it to the web, we collectively outrage, only to then move on to more pressing matters, without even trying to first take steps to safeguard our digital privacy.
High-profile incidents in the recent past have only given more power to such assertions. Earlier this year, Facebook found itself under the scanner after the personal data of as many as 250 million of its users leaked to a voter profiling firm, Cambridge Analytica, from right under its nose.
The Menlo Park-based tech giant faced much criticism for the part it played in the data leak, forcing its CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, to testify in front of the US Congress to douse the growing fires.
More recently, a report published by the Wall Street Journal on Monday alleged that Google allows "hundreds of outside software developers to scan the inboxes of millions of Gmail users".
But are things really black and white as certain news articles make them sound?
Disregard for data security
Contrary to what many of us like to believe – and what headlines of most news articles would like you to believe – the common enabler in the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica and Gmail case is not the greed of big tech corporations, but rather, the end user's disregard for the safety of their personal data.
This is not to say the likes of Facebook and Google are not at fault for the current sorry state of data privacy. There is no denying that more effort to prevent data theft and improving transparency is required from their end, and as such, users should not stop asking for it. But what use will it be if we do not even bother to take the steps we already can to safeguard our data?
Apart from attempts at data thefts and hacks – which take a little more work to protect against – the reality is that users can easily prevent marketers and software developers unwanted access to their personal data and emails.
How can you protect your data?
Before we begin, let's make one thing clear – the big tech giants do not read or allow third-party applications to read your emails or messages. It is the end user who gives permission to third-party apps to sift through their emails, pictures and contacts stored on the cloud and on their phones.
So, the first thing we can do is to be mindful of the permissions that we give to applications while installing them on our smartphones. By default, applications seek access to everything on your phone and cloud. However, it is in the hands of the user to make sure that applications are only provided access to data that is absolutely necessary for them to function.
Users can also change permission for applications that are already installed on their devices.
In the case of Android, the steps may differ slightly between various OS builds and different phones, but overall, the process we mention below remains the same.
So, head over to Settings and from there, Apps. There you can click on individual apps to edit the permissions they enjoy.
Apart from applications installed on your phone, the next threat you should be mindful of is a third party application that you log into using your Gmail account.
For its part, Google allows users to check which applications are connected to your account by navigating to Google Account section.
After finding yourself there, click on the Apps with account access under sign-in and security. Here, you will find all applications and websites that have access to your Google account. Scan through these to review the permissions these applications enjoy.
What about Facebook?
The simplest way is to delete Facebook.
However, if you are not ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the privacy of your personal data, the next course of action is to strengthen privacy settings. You can start by removing Facebook from connected apps. With this move, users can turn the platform's link with third-party apps off so that they don’t have access to the user's account and its information.
For this, head over to the settings tab which can be reached by clicking on the down arrow next to the question mark icon on the navigation bar. From there, access the General Account Settings page, and then head over to the Apps menu. Next, locate Apps, Websites and Plugins and click the Edit button after which you have to click on the blue Disable Platform button – and you're done.