INDIANAPOLIS – A new study of the privacy policies of the most popular shopping apps and websites finds that three-quarters of them share or sell sensitive customer information with third parties.
According to a new report from Atlas VPN, 75% of shopping sites not only share or sell your data, but some do so without your knowledge. Atlas VPN studied the 60 most popular shopping apps and their Google Play profiles.
Atlas discovered that:
- With user data, 75% will share user data.
- 58% of apps shared names, email addresses, phone numbers, and home addresses with third parties who paid them.
- 37% shared financial data such as payment details and purchase history.
- 28% share location data.
- 25% share device ID or unique information about their smartphone or tablet.
The third party involved is typically a company that wants to use this information to target you with advertisements. So who is the least comfortable with sharing the most information?
According to Atlas VPN, eBay is the worst with 28 shared user data points. Next, Amazon will share 25 data points. Buy now, pay later app Afterpay then shares 22 data points. Afterpay also shares your credit score with third parties.
After the top few apps, most apps were similar in scope, sharing between 21 and 18 data points. These include familiar names like Nike, Home Depot, Wayfair, and Craigslist.
Kohl’s was the only app out of 60 surveyed that did not share user data.
To protect yourself, experts say you should take the time to read the privacy policies of the apps you use and understand what’s coming before you start clicking. You also have the option to turn off sharing options, such as location sharing.
We also recommend that you delete any apps you no longer use, as many of them can continue to collect data even when you’re not using them.