Whose data is it anyway?

We’ve all been there: we’ve downloaded a new app or signed up for a new account online, only to see a permission screen. “This app will post on your behalf,” or “This site will access your contacts list.” You must click “I agree” to the terms and conditions to move forward, and you’re expected to scroll endlessly while you read legal terms and conditions.

All too often, consumers don’t read those terms or really understand the permission they’ve just granted the company when they click “I agree.” Yes, it may be a pain to read the seemingly never-ending legalese, but you really should. One reason it is so important is because the lengthy document states what the company who owns the app or site can do with the data they will collect about you. It’s important for individuals to know what can happen to their data, especially if they blindly agree to whatever is stated in these terms.

If you look hard enough, you may find a few scary items that aren’t legally hidden in the terms and conditions. Facebook, for example, has the ability and the right to track your location at any time if you’re using its app on your mobile device, and can even map and store an image of your face (it’s how you can click a photograph to “tag” someone in the picture). Tech manufacturers can “brick” your device permanently if they find out you pirated some software. Some sites that let you upload a photograph and share it with others have the right to use that photograph or even sell it to advertisers, all without your knowledge or permission.

After all, you agreed to it.

Some of the concerns over consumer data privacy have even reached the global stage. A recent deal between U.S. money transfer company, MoneyGram, and Chinese firm, Ant Financial, owned by business conglomerate Alibaba Express, fell through over foreign interest around concerns about citizens’ data privacy. The $1.2 billion deal resulted in a $30 million termination fee paid to MoneyGram when the U.S. government shut down the deal. One thing to consider in looking at this debacle is that the personal information or identifying data would be in the hands of a foreign government which is what the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States ultimately stated as its reason for squashing the deal.