The Need for Uncompromising Data in a World Full of Apps

 The Most Data-Intrusive Sites Locally Revealed 

by Anna Liza VB

The way to survive in a modern world is through technology. This has become the mantra of many technology aficionados who aim to enjoin everyone to stay virtual and keep their social media/  online activity brimmed to the full, far and away from the cubicle types, physical offices that have ruled the work lives of many from the eighties, nineties and even way before the pandemic was declared.

But is it truly worth it to be online? And participate in a one-world, all-access multi-media culture, when there is always a threat of data being compromised? 

Sometimes, a clueless online user does not have to wait, to hear a piece of news about the lack of data integrity of some trusted sites.  And the most visited government sites shared of late to have problems with hacking, may not necessarily be the only ones vulnerable to outside exposure of data.

Apparently, as users of apps, data integrity is what we entrust to the vague, the invisible, and the hypercreative developers and owners of apps.  

As online users of social media and technology apps, all we have to do to be "a subject of prying" as consumers, is to decide whether to download an app or totally abandon the benefits of having ease of use of available technology.    

But a fast-click lifestyle and online sashay from one hound of an app to another can be met with a lot of forms having to be filled out like surveys and student tests; which in turn, demands more data uploading, for the imperative justifications given to help one decide on submitting such forms--for "security purposes".

Below is a list of activities that ask ordinary netizens to reveal too much data about themselves, when subscribing to online apps:

 

1.    Job Sites

This tops the list, as job sites not only require applicants to feed their sites-- whether trusted, most popular, or vaguely anonymous, with "job seeking" resumes but also ask applicants to fill out online exams as well. 

Job sites give prompts for online assessment that push applicants to reveal much of their personality already, without the certainty of being hired, or called in for an interview.  Job sites are not only data-intensive in asking for information apart from the usual birthdays and previous work salary.  Some sites also ask for IDs and photos to be uploaded including phone numbers, among other things.

The magnitude of information that these sites can get based on individual forms given to an applicant can be enough to fill out the empty positions in companies, if indeed, these job sites are truly hiring, and not fishing for data. 

 

Some job sites, however, try to be different and impose a more professional image by sending decline templates of non-progress applications.  This alone would be enough to hint at a waste of an applicant’s time and data, while putting an individual in the "undefined" mode of unemployment, where they are lured to try to send applications on job sites locally and abroad, but would never actually transpire to move beyond sending data, beyond uploading resumes.

 

2.       Microfinancial apps

 

Word is out in advertising that microloans are easy as a pea, that is if you believe those online ads, heckling subscribers and netizens to try their instant get microloans. 

But trying the low-on-popularity, non-mainstream microloans could put an individual into more needless data submissions that are not only intrusive and crucial identifiers of a person but can also leave microloaners on a diminutive offer for a small loan, in exchange for the use of the all-knowing app that wants a subscriber to reveal vital information.  

Questions being hauled in by micro-financial apps online locally can range from business-like to downright personal (including questions on "other sources of income"; frequency of salary payouts; etc). 

But what is bothersome is that many microloan apps that are available for fast download on Google Play, require individuals to share contact persons or references from one to six. 

Just looking at the forms would have given space to a long list of one's circle of relatives and friends with details that one must share in order to be qualified for microloans.  

Now, if this is not a violation of data privacy, we can probably call this an illicit practice of having a slum book style of getting information, as even our most-valued address book can be prey into by these apps, including messages which seem to be "compulsory" before availing of loans online.  

Microloans should stay true to their promise, without subjecting individuals to a demeaning set of information-seeking forms that are very intrusive to be simply shared for microloan purposes.

 

Caution must be exercised.  The public must have a fallback agency locally to help them steer clear of those data sharks of microloans that aim to pry more on the citizen's data than give integrity to their business of making microloans accessible to anyone.

 

3. E-commerce sites

Third on the list of most data-intrusive sites online are e-commerce platforms. Sellers on these apps manage to stay out of sight without notice. E-commerce apps also have sustained efforts to protect the sellers and not the consumers. One e-commerce site locally can be discriminatory and shady, as it deviates from settling the grievances of its customers and can be a haven for merchants/sellers who merely collect or seek customer data on social media, without the actual intention to harmonize true business interactions online.

As such, data integrity must be at the forefront of priorities of our information and technology experts, agencies, and practitioners.