![]() If you notice that a provider you're looking at is sharing user data with an abundance of third parties, or if the provider isn't upfront or totally transparent about its practices, then it's best to move along and find something else. In addition to scrutinizing a VPN app's tracking practices, you'll want to scour its privacy policy to see what kinds of trackers it uses, what data it collects and who it shares that data with. Google has offered similar functionality since its Android 12 release. You can see if any app you're looking to download wants to track you and share your data with third parties and you can easily deny those permissions. The more data points an app is collecting about you, the easier it is for others to identify you online, even if the data being collected isn't necessarily personally identifiable information.įunctionality in its App Store, you have a clear picture of an application's tracking practices. Researchers have shown that 99.98% of users could be re-identified in any anonymized dataset using only 15 data points. It doesn't actually take that much to connect the dots and identify you online. That sounds great, but something like a device ID can still be used to identify you personally when other data points tied to your online behavior and interactions with the app are matched to that ID. VPNs are often quick to claim that the data they're tracking and sharing with third parties is anonymized and not identifiable or tied to your personal information. (We do this as part of our review process and thoroughly vet a VPN's data policies before we recommend it to anyone.) The concern is real That's why it's crucial to scrutinize the data sharing practices of any VPN you're considering. Unfortunately, far too many VPN apps will track and share your data with all kinds of third parties. That information is also being shared with sites like Google and Facebook, meaning that even if you don't have a Facebook account and you're doing your best to stay away from big tech data hogs, your data is still being shared with them. When we say your data is being shared with third-party entities, we mean entities like data brokers and advertisers that put profits ahead of ethics. Still, the industry is slowly showing signs of progress. Google was forced back to the drawing board and ended up shelving the idea for at least two years. That proposal, however, turned out to be a failure after people began pointing out the ways in which Google's proposed alternative would make it even easier for the company to track and identify you for targeted advertising. Google even proposed a solution to eliminating the use of third-party trackers altogether. That said, Apple and Google have begun shifting their policies regarding the use of third-party trackers in their respective mobile app marketplaces and have provided users more transparency and a much greater element of control when it comes to restricting how apps are able to track them. Targeted advertising is big business, and there are mountains of cash to be made at the expense of your digital privacy. ![]() In simpler terms, third-party trackers exist to help companies bombard you with targeted advertisements based on your online browsing activity. ![]()
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