Privacy on the Internet: Should Your Business Worry?

Everything that happens online stays online–forever. Internet giants, like Google and Facebook, take this to the next level by tracking every move you make online. With these companies being such an integral part of the Internet, privacy seems impossible.

However, people are starting to take a stand by using privacy-focused search engines like DuckDuckGo and privacy browsers like Brave. As a business, privacy should be a major concern as what your employees do on company devices could be being tracked as well.

Read on to learn more about what you need to think about to protect privacy and how our business IT services can help.

 

 When Tracking Goes Too Far

If your employees take a minute to check Facebook during a break and then start checking business email, Facebook can track that. With Google, despite their claims about respecting privacy, everything someone searches for, every site they visit, the emails they receive in Gmail, third-party logins, and much more are tracked. Both companies are constantly scrutinized for their controversial practices related to tracking and privacy.

It’s all too common to see the item you just looked for on Amazon pop up as ads on Google, Facebook, and other sites. All the tracking is supposed to be used to “personalize” a user’s experience. However, most of that “personalization” seems to mean popping up ads they think you would be interested in based on what you looked at before. It’s all about making money. Personal data gets collected so that it can be sold to marketers.

Besides the sites you visit, they also want to track what apps you use, how long you’re online daily, what shows and YouTube videos you watch, and even what employees do at work. All of this should be concerning to businesses.

 

Facebook Tries to Intimidate WhatsApp Users

WhatsApp users once enjoyed privacy when chatting with friends and family a more private experience than most messaging and social media apps—data was not shared with other applications or vendors. However, Facebook, owner of WhatsApp, wanted more from users. In early 2021, Facebook introduced a new privacy policy for WhatsApp that requires users to share more information with businesses on Facebook in order to use the app.

Users flocked in droves to competing messaging apps. In response, Facebook regrouped, delaying the launch of the new policy, and softening some of the terms. They explained that the purpose of the policy change was to make it easier for users to communicate with businesses. Their messages would still be end-to-end encrypted. Facebook also stated that they would not remove users for not accepting the policy.  What they ended up doing instead was implement a more gradual disablement of WhatsApp functionality over time for users who did not accept. Ultimately the reduction in functionality gets to the point where it becomes useless to a user who does not accept the terms.

For businesses, this new policy could expose sensitive company details. Since you don’t know what’s being tracked or how it’s used, it’s a risk that’s best to avoid. Experts who provide business IT services can help you find alternatives and more effectively block unwanted tracking.

 

 Apple Fights Back

Apple wants to fight back against the abuse of privacy on the Internet. All iOS 14.5 users can now opt-out of cross-site and cross-platform tracking for apps. For instance, if a user chooses to not allow Facebook tracking, Facebook wouldn’t be able to see what you do in other apps and on other websites.

What’s interesting about Apple’s new privacy feature is that it’s proactive. Instead of having a feature you have to dig around to enable, you get a pop-up the first time you use an app after installing iOS 14.5. You can either allow tracking or ask the app not to track you. The problem is ensuring that users block tracking as many might not realize what’s being requested.

Businesses could actually make this a requirement on any company devices, including devices issued to remote workers.

 

What Do You Do If You’re Concerned about Privacy?

One option is to recruit a local IT support services provider to help your business keep your data private. From anti-virus and Facebook firewall tools, to recommending secure and private alternatives to Google, and more, you can take privacy back, protecting your business and employees. Providers of IT services in the Bay Area like GSDSolutions can help.

 

Why Work with GSDSolutions?

At GSDSolutions, we believe more privacy is a good thing, because it helps keep your business’s data safer. Our IT support services can help improve your overall data security. We can also make recommendations for more secure and private solutions for using the Internet in your business.

 

Want to Learn More?

Give our team at GSDSolutions IT Services a call at (650) 282-7695, or drop us an email at getstuffdone@gsdsolutions.io to learn more about our business IT services and how we can help you put a robust managed IT service program strategy in place for your business. We offer Managed IT Services, Data Security Services and Virtual Event Management Service, with a predictable cost model and a commitment to customer satisfaction. From implementing new cybersecurity protocols for a hybrid workforce to ensuring you’re using hardware that is optimal for your business’s goals, GSDSolutions can help your business “Get Stuff Done”!