F-Secure Announces New List of Privacy Principles

F-Secure Announces New List of Privacy Principles

In age when companies know more about you than ever, do you know what they’re doing with all your data? In honor of Data Privacy Day, F-Secure is sharing its recently inauguratedprivacy principles that outline how it treats customer data, while on the flip side, its Freedome privacy app tells nosy online advertisers to mind their own business.

We give companies unprecedented access to our personal information and shopping habits. We give overtly, such as when we fill out a website form, as well as in ways we may not be aware of, in the case of online advertisers who track our clicks around the web and gain insight into our interests and preferences. These advertisers are building up detailed, extensive profiles about us. The apps we install garner even more of our information. The result: a mass of digital data is spread around about each of us that becomes increasingly difficult to control.

An Adroit Digital study found that 58% of respondents aren't comfortable with the amount of information they have to give to get special offers or services from retailers, and 82% are uncomfortable with the amount of information online advertisers have about them. And according to a survey by SAS, more than 69% of respondents agree that recent news events have increased their concerns about their data in the hands of businesses. 85% of consumers in an F-Secure survey* say they only make online purchases from companies they know.

These statistics are no doubt affected by frequent reports of data breaches, but also a skepticism of what businesses and organizations may do with the data they are entrusted with. Last week, for example, Americans were shocked to learn that their government’s healthcare website had been quietly funneling consumers’ personal details along to advertising and analytics companies.

6 Tips for Defending Your Personal Data

·Check before committing. If your relationship with a business means you’ll be giving up a lot of data to them, check for a privacy policy or principles that outline how they use customer data

· Choose privacy. Turn on Private or Incognito mode in your web browser so that websites can’t use cookies to identify you

· Check your settings. Use this handy list to check your privacy settings on all the most popular sites, from ecommerce to social media and more. Provided by the folks behind Data Privacy Day.

· Search carefree. Use F-Secure Search, our free search engine that makes sure your search history is not stored anywhere or linked to you

. Get informed. Use F-Secure App Permissions, our free app that lets you know what information you’re giving up to the apps you’ve installed on your phone

· Keep advertisers at bay. Use F-Secure Freedome, our privacy app that blocks third-party online advertisers from following you around the Web. Freedome is available for a free 14-day trial here.

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