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PANOPTICON: Is Your Phone Spying on You?

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You probably have dozens of apps on your smartphone. Chances are they are collecting your personal information en masse, and either selling it to third parties or keeping it for themselves. Most likely both.

You have read here about the widening surveillance state I’m calling the virtual panopticon. The efforts by the government to surveil Americans are expanding quickly as technologies make it easy to watch every part of your life.

But how much surveillance are you inviting right into your home? Apps on your phone are collecting massive amounts of information about you every day. Some more so than others.

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A new ranking by pCloud, a Switzerland-based cloud storage company, explains which apps are taking the most data from you. You probably have a few of the top ten worst offenders on your phone right now.

The ten apps sharing the most of your data with third parties are:

  1. Instagram
  2. Facebook
  3. LinkedIn
  4. Uber Eats
  5. Trainline
  6. YouTube
  7. YouTube Music
  8. Deliveroo
  9. Duolingo
  10. eBay

As I explained to you in my series, Cryptocosm and Life After Google, you are the product for these companies. They make money by selling access to you. The same goes for Robinhood and their “free” stock trades. If you’re trading on Robinhood, your order flow is the product the company is selling. It may look “free,” but that’s because you’re not the actual customer, you’re the product.

Action Line: Only you can control how much of your personal data is available to companies like Google and Facebook. Take control of your personal data by scrutinizing the policies of these companies, and considering alternatives. pCloud lists popular apps that take none of your data as well. Here are the top 10:

  1. Signal
  2. Clubhouse
  3. Netflix
  4. Microsoft Teams
  5. Google Classroom
  6. Shazam
  7. Etsy
  8. Skype
  9. Telegram
  10. Boohoo

P.S. You shouldn’t invest with companies that make you the product either. Choose a real brokerage like Fidelity over something like Robinhood.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West (RIP JB) and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.

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