It is more than common for the everyday digital consumer to just scroll to bottom the privacy statement and accept the terms and conditions without truly knowing what he has just agreed to. Whether it be because we are too lazy, trust the app too much, or just generally do not care, we have all done this at some point in our lives. However, after truly examining a privacy statement, I was shocked by the terms that everyone has agreed to.
From first glance, one can tell that the privacy statement is ridiculously long. Not to mention, a phone makes it look much longer since the scrolling icon is huge. Just this alone would prevent many people from reading the privacy statement. Also, I found myself having to re-read some sections to fully understand it. The article that has a section on privacy agreements explains it best when stating that privacy statements nowadays are not easily understandable to the typical consumer, especially since consumers do not have knowledge on managing networks. Some sections of the privacy statement did require further knowledge and intelligence in the technology field to understand, which most consumers do not have. In addition, Snapchat has added the “agree to the terms and conditions” box to the top of the page so the consumer does not need to scroll to the bottom anymore. This is just ridiculous and it appears that Snapchat prefers that its own users do not know what they are agreeing to.
Snapchat’s privacy statement states the fact that they collect information we provide them and collect information from our use of their services and third parties. With such information, they try to personalize the content we are exposed to and better our overall experience with the app, as well as enhance their services. Additionally, they share our information and activity on the app with third parties for the purpose of direct marketing and selling ads. This idea was mentioned in class when Professor Teaff brought up the fact that she saw an ad about a blanket after having a conversation about not getting enough sleep. The third party companies use our likes and app engagement to only provide ads of products and services that we would be interested in. In addition, all our snaps and conversations are never truly gone forever because Snapchat collects such information to constantly add to our list of likes and dislikes. Shockingly, third parties have such access and are allowed to do whatever they want with it. Just like in the Fitbit article where data stored in a Fitbit is required as a piece of evidence in the court of law, Snapchat will provide any information if requested by the government or by law. This aspect of Snapchat makes sense since it is in place to protect its users from harm and provide information if needed in a court of law for the sake of justice.
The following audio clip is an interview with fellow student Virginia Kavders about Snapchat’s privacy statement and the true meaning behind it.
I feel much more informed on what I got myself into by agreeing to Snapchat’s terms and conditions, although it has been a long time since I initially installed it. I believe that more people should become informed about the topic in order to fully understand what they are themselves into. But even if we do take the time to read it, the vocabulary and phrases require a background in technology or high intelligence to understand, which I luckily have thanks to my Black Mirror seminar. However, a majority of people of using the apps do not fulfill such requirements to understand it entirely so all of the app’s users will never truly be informed. All in all, based on my new knowledge, I will be a lot more careful with what I send on Snapchat and what pages I spend my time on, as well as be prepared to read the privacy statements in the future instead of skipping them.
