Skip to main content

How Tik Tok gives you a Kill-Pill


Privacy on the internet is a myth and because of Tik Tok, there is absolutely no doubt about it. It  adds spices to your life  by showcasing exhilarating lip-sync, short dance, talent, and comedy videos. But! this entertainment  has a hidden cost attached to it. The pay-check to this hidden cost is the access to your location and regional details. Now what bothers is “ What does Tik Tok do with all this sensitive information?”

Seeking permission is a joke

Have you ever used Tik Tok? If yes, so when you created a fresh account, you must've given a green light to the app for using your camera, microphone and external memory. Of course, that’s a common phenomenon for most apps to ask for. Now what isn’t common, and you did not allow is to access your location, did you? That is one thing, Tik Tok does not need your permission for. Shocked right? Let us go in the depth and find out how is that possible. For that, those with a Tik Tok account, can go to the app permissions section of your phone and try to find out the location option for Tik Tok? To your utter surprise, you won’t find it because it dosen’t exist. Immediately turn off the location of your phone. Will that help? The answer is no.

Tik Tok is the smartest of all

Even most advanced apps like 'Google maps' do not work if the location is off, but Tik tok is a bit different. It will still show you trending videos in your area. How?

To find that we’ll have to use a VPN (Virtual Private Network). VPNs are often used by teenagers to access age restricted websites but in our case, we will use it on our phone to set up a foreign location, say for example Germany. Every other app including YouTube will now start showing German centric content but Tik Tok will very easily surpass that VPN and continue suggesting regional videos, no matter what language you choose in the app. In this case you fed German as your language of choice, but you will still get to see English videos. Tik Tok can make that possible by accessing data directly from your Sim card. Isn't it very unethical of a video sharing app to do that? Certainly, at this point you may want to know, How am I the only one suffering if more than a billion people use Tik Tok? That’s right not only one person is suffers, the way Tik Tok gets access to your credentials is potentially dangerous for a wider audience.

Tik Tok's strange policy

The privacy policy of Tik Tok mentions that all your personal data gets collected automatically. Linking social media handles will give access to all personal details without any warning. Besides that Tik Tok uses http (Not secured) servers for content delivery instead of https (secured ones). Hackers can make an easy win into your personal life by hacking these servers. Even deleting your account will become a substandard move because Tik Tok can still use your data at it’s own disposal.

How does Tik Tok screw you?

Remember Facebook and Cambridge Analytica data breach scandal. Millions of Facebook accounts were hacked and got predominantly used for political advertising. AI (Artificial intelligence) can be used to filter what you see. While watching any clipping on Tik Tok, you become part of a detailed survey which helps in understanding your preferences, likes and dislikes, agreements and disagreements and and your overall personality. The parent company of Tik Tok ‘ByteDance’ is an AI company, so imagine what the consequences could be. On the Internet there is a rat race in Artificial Intelligence. What happens is that you become a product for a global race to gain superiority in AI technology. The whole point over here is not to criticize this particular video sharing app, but is to raise a question on data privacy.

Whether to delete Tik Tok or not is for you to decide…

What you can do is take these following precautions:-

1.   If you use free apps, so don’t operate internet banking or digital payment apps on your phone.

2.  When creating an account, don’t use Google or Facebook to sign in.

3.  Use a different password for every new account.

4.  Keep your emails safe and change their passwords regularly.

Every kind of Free app maybe amazing to use, but all of them come at some hidden costs so Be Safe...


Comments

Post a Comment

Any doubts, ideas or recommendations, kindly let me know

Popular posts from this blog

Difference between Scottish and English education systems

  Introduction This literature differentiates between the Scottish and English education systems to explain how they work. Focusing on grammar schools, it analyses the effects of their selective recruitment process of pupils on their performance and compares them to the comprehensive system which the Scottish schools follow. Evidence based upon academic selection on school performance and equity is assessed throughout by referring to the recurring debate about the expansion of grammar schools in England. Further this literature makes recommendations on whether Scotland should introduce grammar schools which were largely abolished earlier (Gorard and Siddiqi, 2018). Towards the end some additional policy measures are suggested. Difference in schooling patterns? Scottish Schools : Ø   The Scottish education system follows their own curriculum for excellence which functions slight differently. Academies can set their own terms and conditions because they don’t follow t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sustainability Check on Rural India

There is no place as amazing as India for a Geography student to conduct a sustainability check on people’s lifestyles. Indian villages and cities are a class apart when we talk about sustainable practices. Alike other urban dwellers in the world, most Indian townsmen are still on the verge of developing suitable resource management skills. What is different is that people living in villages have an ancient connection to the ‘Go green’ and ‘Best out of waste’ concepts. 70% of the rural households in the country depend primarily on agriculture. The rest migrate to the cities in search of better opportunities. Traditionally farming methods comprised of using organic matter for fertility and rain for irrigation. These methods could not full fill the food requirements thus affected India’s food security. To overcome this, food had to be imported from other countries and in the fifties, the government launched a green revolution. This led to the introduction of HYV (High Yielding Variety) s...
Post a Comment
Read more

A new hope for Organic Farming in India

The farm sector may have collapsed due to Covid-19, but amidst this unprecedented situation Indian farmers have a chance to Bounce Back. A shifting demand towards ecologically produced agricultural commodities has opened gates for immense agricultural expansion and repurposing of agriculture policies and practices for a healthier population. The ‘Mantra’ for seizing this opportunity and amplifying India’s trade-surplus in agricultural exports, is promoting unconventional organic farming with a stable Agri-exports policy. A burgeoning population is diversifying its demand. It is a suitable time for farmers to start producing organic food which would help them fetch a high income, but they are still following staple cereals fundamentalism. They believe in taking minimal risks and make low profits. Agriculture for them is a poverty-stricken profession with a low potential for growth. Years of negligence, bad policy implementations, lack of support and infrastructural dearth have been ...
Post a Comment
Read more