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3/9/2015 Why you should think before sharing your Mobile Number | News Patrollings
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Why you should think before sharing your Mobile NumberPosted by: Team | NewsPatrolling March 5, 2015 in India
This Women’s Day, eScan, one of the leading Anti-Virus and Content Security Solution providers, alertswomen IT users to think before sharing their Mobile number
In this digital era, we have very popular cross-mobile messaging platform WhatsApp that has over 700million people who now use it each month world-wide and its users send more than 30 billion messagesper day. Even after Facebook acquisition, this mobile messaging service continues and is bigger thanTwitter’s 284 million user base, Instagram that has around 300 million users and Facebook itself. Thispopularity has given rise to various promotionally activities mainly targeting WhatsApp users. TheWhatsApp Bulk Marketing service promises to send out mass WhatsApp text/image messages tohundreds of thousands of users who use the app. As this service is considered as a popular platform thatallows users to communicate with one another, more and more companies are opting for this service toreach to their target audience. But an important question to ask here should be – Is WhatsApp selling its
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3/9/2015 Why you should think before sharing your Mobile Number | News Patrollings
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users data?
Apparently, in an interview, Jan Koum, who co-founded WhatsApp with Brian Acton said that themessaging service collects very little data of its users. This free app does not ask for user’s e-mail addressand does not even require a real sign up. The other things WhatsApp won’t collect are: home address,GPS location, your likes and search history. Moreover, he even added by saying that none of the user datahas ever been collected and stored by WhatsApp, and that they really have no plans to collect and storeuser’s data. WhatsApp has even added encryption for messages sent amongst its millions of users inorder to prevent messages from being hacked or monitored. If WhatsApp itself is not collecting andselling its users data then – from where are these companies getting the database (mobile numbers) ofmillions of WhatsApp users?
Let us consider events on which we give our number;
We overshare our mobile number:
Anytime we fill a form, not many of us really hesitate to give out our mobile number-whether it’s a luckydraw, a signup form, contest entry, a warranty registration, or for social networking profile. Many of usalso mention our phone number in the email signature. In such situations, there is always a chance thatour mobile number can end up in someone else’s hands.
Most of us accept ‘Terms of Use’ while installing any app:
Without even reading or understanding the ‘Terms of Use’, many IT users accept them. Few Apps such asflashlight app or almost all gaming apps does not require access to users call logs or even contacts. We donot realize however, there is a lot of information that we provide when we say ‘Yes, I accept’.
Sharing mobile number on dating sites:
IT users sign up on dating and Romance sites and easily provide their mobile numbers. At times, many ofus get emotionally carried away and share other details as well on such sites.
Social media sites:
Social networking sites display phone number and e-mail address of users. This is another way howcompanies get our mobile number. Sometime back, Facebook admitted that 6 million of its members’
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3/9/2015 Why you should think before sharing your Mobile Number | News Patrollings
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phone numbers and email addresses were accidentally leaked for a period of about a year. However,Facebook blamed the leaks on a technical glitch.
Product warranty cards:
When a user register online for a new product that he/she wishes to purchase, the user needs to providecontact number, names, addresses and e-mails, which can be later sold to marketers and data brokers.
eScan suggests users what they can do to minimize this leakage of their mobile phone number.
Never be in a hurry to disclose your phone number. Ask yourself if it is really required for you to giveyour number. Maybe your-email address is enough.
Be careful when you register for contests and lucky draws. Read the fine print or contest terms closelythat will specify whether the contest operators will sell your data to other companies.
Be cautious when registering at websites. Ask yourself if the website registration really require yourphone number.
When downloading apps onto your Smartphone, read the privacy policy and access right informationbefore you install the app. As mentioned earlier, some apps such as flashlight app does not requireaccess to your call logs or even contacts.
As they say, our security is in our hands!
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