{"id":289369,"date":"2021-07-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-01T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/"},"modified":"2021-07-01T15:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-01T12:00:00","slug":"4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"#4 Signs That a Company\u2019s Privacy Policy Is Bad"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfc057d9bc\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a3dfc057d9bc\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/#Shady_Data_Collection_and_Sales\" >Shady Data Collection and Sales<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/#Typos_and_Tricky_Language\" >Typos and Tricky Language<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/#Suspicious_Corporate_Structure\" >Suspicious Corporate Structure<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/#Confusing_Security_and_Privacy\" >Confusing Security and Privacy<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/#What_a_Good_Privacy_Policy_Looks_Like\" >What a Good Privacy Policy Looks Like<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<p><strong>&#8220;#4 Signs That a Company\u2019s Privacy Policy Is Bad&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"type:primaryImage wp-image-732518 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/paper-documents.jpg?width=1198&amp;trim=1,1&amp;bg-color=000&amp;pad=1,1\" alt=\"People reading paper documents.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" data-crediturl=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/human-hands-working-documents-desk-closeup-415554019\" data-credittext=\"Africa Studio\/Shutterstock.com\" onload=\"pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\" onerror=\"this.onerror=null;pagespeed.lazyLoadImages.loadIfVisibleAndMaybeBeacon(this);\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"type:primaryImage imagecredit\"><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shutterstock.com\/image-photo\/human-hands-working-documents-desk-closeup-415554019\">Africa Studio\/Shutterstock.com<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>When you sign up for a new digital service, you should always read the privacy policy. However, unless you know what you\u2019re looking for, it can be very easy to miss the forest for the trees. After years of spitting through these documents, though, we\u2019ve gotten pretty good at spotting issues. Here are a few things you need to look out for when reading a privacy policy.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Shady_Data_Collection_and_Sales\"><\/span>Shady Data Collection and Sales<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The first things to look for are the simplest: If a privacy policy states that the company shares or sells data to third parties, then you know that data isn\u2019t safe. It is, of course, quite rare that it\u2019s admitted to so boldly, and there are plenty of legitimate reasons to share some of your data\u2014like sharing your location with their website host, for example\u2014so it\u2019s no silver bullet. Think of it more like the first rung of a ladder.<\/p>\n<p>The next step is to see what information is collected. If it\u2019s just simple stuff, like your name and email address, there\u2019s usually no problem: This is information that the service needs to create an account, and there\u2019s little to no money in that data. However, as a <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/general\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"3\" title=\"General\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">general<\/a> rule, the more information sites want from you\u2014and the more exotic that data\u2014the greater the chance that it\u2019s being sold onward.<\/p>\n<p>A lot of data doesn\u2019t really need to be collected.\u00a0Your phone number, for example: There\u2019s really no reason for anybody to have this besides professional or governmental services. Another is information about your device that can be used to track it. Also known as device fingerprinting, it\u2019s only necessary for specific software. Another big one is your location, which is necessary for map-based <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>s and nothing else. Then there\u2019s a host of other examples: Most smartphone apps, for instance, don\u2019t need access to your contacts list.<\/p>\n<p>However, the above only counts when companies are being honest about what they\u2019re doing.\u00a0If they\u2019re not, there are a few other ways to figure out that something fishy is going on.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Typos_and_Tricky_Language\"><\/span>Typos and Tricky Language<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>One of the most telling signs that you should look out for with a service is if the privacy policy contains poor use of language. This includes outright errors in spelling and grammar as well as purposely obtuse phrasing.<\/p>\n<p>As a semi-legal document, a privacy policy should be clear. If there are a lot of errors, that means that little care was used in putting it together, and you should be worried. Either the company does not care about you, or it doesn\u2019t care enough to put a decent document together.\u00a0In either case, there\u2019s a chance that you might be dealing with a fly-by-night outfit, and you should back out.<\/p>\n<p>There are also opposite, ridiculously convoluted privacy policies that are just filled to the brim with legalese. You see tactics like this all the time in rental agreements, employment contracts, and plenty of other day-to-day legal documents, and they exist only to confuse you. If a piece of software or a service that you\u2019re purchasing is trying to overwhelm you with legalese, then they\u2019re probably trying to get the better of you. Don\u2019t let them.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Suspicious_Corporate_Structure\"><\/span>Suspicious Corporate Structure<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Another thing to look out for is a weird corporate structure. Although in this day and age, it\u2019s normal for corporations to own other corporations, which in turn own yet more corporations like some kind of Russian nesting dolls, there are some signs that things have taken a turn for the truly weird.<\/p>\n<p>One example is when one of the companies in these chains of ownership is based in a jurisdiction known for secrecy. Examples include the Cayman Islands, the Seychelles, and Gibraltar. If you need secrecy so much that you\u2019re based there, what are you hiding? For example, many VPNs will headquarter in such locales in a bid to avoid warrants for their customers\u2019 data, but there are plenty of companies that don\u2019t have the same need for secrecy also moving out there. It should raise your eyebrows when you see exotic locales like this in company information.<\/p>\n<p>Other signals are when data is handed off to other companies under the umbrella. One example is Avast, which sold user data through a subsidiary named Jumpshot (It was closed soon after the story broke.). While it\u2019s legal to transfer data to subsidiaries, when it\u2019s explicitly mentioned, you might want to do some digging on the company in question to make sure that none of those subsidiaries are in the data-selling <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Confusing_Security_and_Privacy\"><\/span>Confusing Security and Privacy<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Another issue that we\u2019ve come across more than once is that some companies will equate privacy and security: When you look up how the company handles your data, they\u2019ll overwhelm you with jargon and impressive encryption terms like AES or Blowfish. However, this has nothing to do with privacy.<\/p>\n<p>In short, the difference is that security is <em>how well<\/em> a company protects your data from outside threats, while privacy is all about <em>how<\/em> a company handles inside threats, or how it treats your data. A service can have the best, most state-of-the-art security on offer, but if they\u2019re selling your data to marketers, it\u2019s still bad <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">news<\/a> for you.<\/p>\n<p>In short, no matter how much a company talks about how well its infrastructure stands up to simulated attacks or how good its encryption is, you need to focus on how well it treats your data internally. It\u2019s like a magic trick: Always look where the illusionist doesn\u2019t want you to look.<\/p>\n<h2 role=\"heading\" aria-level=\"2\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_a_Good_Privacy_Policy_Looks_Like\"><\/span>What a Good Privacy Policy Looks Like<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>However, maybe the best example of all would be a privacy policy that we think is good. For that, we can think of two likely candidates: First off is VPN service <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/mullvad.net\/en\/help\/privacy-policy\/\">Mullvad\u2019s privacy policy<\/a>, which reads clearly and has a great breakdown of what it collects and why, while another contender is <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.teamgantt.com\/privacy-policy\">TeamGantt<\/a>, a project management tool that goes a step further and uses tables to illustrate what is collected and for what purpose.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, though, the best tool that you have at your disposal is your common sense: If a site looks like a cowboy outfit and it wasn\u2019t recommended to you by somebody you trust, don\u2019t sign up for it. Discretion is the better part of valor, after all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n setTimeout(function(){\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s) } (window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n   fbq('init', '335401813750447');\n   fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  },3000);\n<\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/730615\/4-signs-that-a-companys-privacy-policy-is-bad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#4 Signs That a Company\u2019s Privacy Policy Is Bad&#8221; Africa Studio\/Shutterstock.com When you sign up for a new digital service, you should always read the privacy policy. However, unless you know what you\u2019re looking for, it can be very easy to miss the forest for the trees. After years of spitting through these documents, though,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":289370,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.howtogeek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/paper-documents.jpg?height=200p&trim=2,2,2,2","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-289369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=289369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289369\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/289370"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=289369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=289369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=289369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}