Everything Threads collects from you when you install their app

WITH Publish streams to app stores from Apple and Google, Meta already has a new pillar on which to build its empire. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and now Threads. Millions of users who use one or more of these social networks. And hence the millions of data that serve develop profiles of each of us. exactly, theme privacy this is doubtful.

To get started you need be registered on Instagram use streams. Thus, you are forced to be present in two meta applications. Whether you like it or not, the two apps are linked to each other to the point that if you unsubscribe from Threads, you will lose your Instagram photos and videos. So, once you enter Threads, be careful coming out of there.

But the big problem is the information that Meta will get from you once you install Threads on your smartphone. take a look at permissions required for this app on the Google Play and App Store tabs have already warned many about Meta’s intent on streams. To the extent that some media outlets believed that his arrival in Europe was in danger due to non-compliance European Privacy Policy. Or at least stay a few days. But the worst thing is that in fact it is about the same thing. permissions we have already granted you on Facebook and Instagram in the past.

What does Instagram know about you when you install its app?

In the previous article, we saw that in the official Threads tabs for iPhone and Android endless list of permissions necessary. Or, in other words, the privacy of streams leaves much to be desired. As the App Store explains, “the developer, Instagram, OOOindicated that the application’s privacy policy may include data management described below.

Data related to you that Threads may “collect and associate with you” according to App Store from Apple:

• Health & Fitness
• financial information
• Contact Information
• user-generated content
• browser history
• Usage data
• Diagnostics
• Purchase
• Location
• Contacts
• Search History
• identifiers
• confidential data
• Other data

On Android, Google Play also displays a list data shared with Instagram, such as your name, email address, your user ID, your device ID, and phone number. And then, data that the application itself can collect:

• Location
• Personal information
• financial information
• health and fitness
• Messages
• Photo and video
• Audio
• Files and Documents
• Calendar
• Contacts
• application activity
• Web navigation
• Application information and performance

Meta and Stream Privacy Policy

Meta, the company that owns Threads, has a privacy center created as a result of the many controversies it has faced regarding its management, collection and use of data their users. On this portal you can get “information about how to manage and control your privacy on Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and other Meta products.

Basically, it explains in more detail the permissions that the app asks us for on our mobile devices. But this not only reassures us, but also generates even more distrust and doubt. First of all, the responsibility lies with you. “The information we collect and process about you depends on how you use our products“.

In this sense, it clarifies what we already know. Threads collects “activity and information you provide”, i.e. messages you send, photos and videos you capture and share, content you consume in the app, topics you search for or share, metadata associated with content you post, etc. And that includes “information about friends, followers, groups, accounts (…) and other users and communities with whom you communicate and interact.”

Privacy of Threads and your mobile device

But what about data we generate without realizing it? There Meta, which means Instagram and Threads, have a range of data to collect:

• what device are you usingits software and its characteristics: make and model, battery levelsignal strength, available storage, browser type, what apps do you have…
• If you have an app in the foreground
• IDs of your device and your family members, if associated
• Signals from your device: “Signals from devices include GPS and Bluetooth signalsaccess points to nearby Wi-Fi networks, beacons and cell towers“.
• Information about the network you are connecting to: your Internet or mobile operatorlanguage, time zone, phone number, IP address, connection and download speed, devices near your network or within your network, the WiFi zones you connect to…
• “Some location data even when location services are turned off. For example, we use IP addresses to calculate your location general”.

Should you share your data without further ado?

The only consolation we get from Threads’ privacy policy is that “data is encrypted in transit.” In other words, no one will be able to get this data from your device to the Meta or Instagram servers. And if you do not agree with the collection of your data, the developer gives you the opportunity request deletion of your data“.

Another detail that could console us. “In order to use less information tied to individual users, in some cases, we pseudonymize, aggregate or anonymize information so I can’t recognize you.” But it is not specified how this process is carried out. In short, despite the fact that anonymous profiles of each of us are created, all information and accumulated data is generated an image that is easily recognizable.

Eventually. In order to use certain applications, we accept terms that we rarely pay attention to. Conditions we must accept if we want get access to these applications and not be left behind. We trust that the person responsible for the application will properly use our data. But looking at the permissions we give these apps allows us to see that we are generating millions of data, many of which don’t realize it, which is perhaps we shouldn’t share so easily.