I Always Feel like Somebody's Watching Me

Have you ever thought about how much access your apps have to your data?

Last month, while I was waiting at the Mumbai airport lounge, mindlessly scrolling on my phone, I noticed a blue oval around the time, indicating my location was being actively used. I thought that was odd since I had not used Google Maps recently, so I closed my other apps in case some other app was tracking me in the background. When I closed my Priority Pass app, the blue oval went away. Priority Pass was tracking my location just because it was open in the background.

I found it weird that Priority Pass tracked my location even when I wasn’t actively using the app. I am lousy at fully closing out apps. (Yes, I am also THAT person who has over one thousand unopened emails.) But the fact that it showed up so blatantly on my phone made me consider whether I wanted Priority Pass to track my location at all.

For one app, this might seem trivial. But what about all the apps on my phone?

I had 134 apps on my phone, so over 100 companies have access to my data, whether it be my location, photos, or contacts. After a quick mental anguish over this, I deleted 50 apps—yes, 50! That left me with 84 apps. Curious about their access, I went through each app’s settings.

It turns out, many apps were collecting more data than I expected.

Almost half of my apps had access to my geolocation data. I understand why, it makes recommendations convenient. For example, when I open Priority Pass, it uses my location to show the airport I am at.

Yet, is the trade-off of the 10 seconds I save from not typing in the airport worth them tracking my location? I decided it wasn’t and turned their location access off.

All of my banking apps, except Citibank, can access my location. Banks use geolocation to determine the distance and time between transactions and identify unusual transaction patterns. Since this benefits me greatly, I kept the location features on all my credit card banking apps.

Google Maps had access to my contacts, so I could type in a name and instantly get directions if their address was saved. I’ve never used this feature and likely never will. While I get the convenience, handing Google full access to my contacts wasn’t worth the trade-off, so I turned it off. Lyft also had access to my contacts for easier ride-sharing and fare-splitting options. I do not use these options either so I also turned their contacts’ access off.

Both LinkedIn and Shazam had “Live Activities” turned on. According to Apple’s Developer site, “A Live Activity displays up-to-date information from your app, allowing people to view the progress of an activity, event, or task at a glance.” I found no official explanation on how LinkedIn uses this, just ChatGPT’s best guesses. This seemed suss, so I turned it off. Shazam uses Live Activities to find music while the app is in the background. I do not want Shazam listening in the background so I also turned that functionality off.

Lastly, some apps, such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and even AllTrails, have full access to all of my photos. Full access means they have access to not only the photos I post but every image in my photo library, even the ones I never share. They can also access the photo’s metadata, such as the date and time of the photo, its location, and its camera details.

In our new world of generative AI, deepfakes, and facial recognition software, I have been wary of how my image data could be used to train models without my conscious consent. Therefore, I revoked access to AllTrails and LinkedIn since I don’t post pictures there anyway. For Instagram and Facebook, I switched to 'Limited Access,' meaning I now have to manually select photos each time I post. It adds two extra clicks, but that’s a small price to pay to keep Meta from having access to thousands of my images.

As I reviewed my settings, one question kept coming to mind:

Is the trade-off for the convenience worth the data I am providing?

My image and location data are among the most valuable pieces of information about me. They capture my face, body type, and skin color while also tracking every place I go, essentially mapping my life both physically and over time.

For some apps, like banking and Google Maps, the benefits outweigh the risks. But for others, like Priority Pass or AllTrails, giving up my location data isn’t worth the minor convenience of quicker recommendations.

My image data is especially sensitive; it’s my likeness. And without full transparency on how companies are using this data, I can’t justify giving them unrestricted access. So I choose privacy over convenience.

This is a choice we must make individually. I welcome you to ask yourself the next time you’re on your phone, in your car, or connecting to free Wi-Fi at a coffee shop:

1. What data am I providing to these companies?

2. What benefits do I receive from that giving up that data?

3. Is the trade-off worth it?

We must start considering the trade-offs of our data, not only for our privacy and safety but also for the world around us. As more companies become 'data-driven' and AI reliance grows, the demand for data centers is skyrocketing, straining already scarce water resources. A mid-sized data center consumes about 300,000 gallons of water per day, the same as 100,000 homes. Is the convenience of a personalized recommendation worth someone losing access to clean water? Which trade-offs are justifiable, and which aren’t? These are the questions we must ask as a society navigating an increasingly data-driven world.