Privacy vs. Convenience

I often talk about #experience and #security. I don’t see them as mutually exclusive; you can have both great experience and strong security.

People are making a different trade-off on a regular basis and aren’t considering the ramifications. I’m speaking about #privacy vs. #convenience.

The explosion of smartphones and apps have afforded us tremendous convenience. Much of that comes at a price – reducing our privacy.

Yes, it’s convenient to get deals at your favorite store, or be alerted to changing traffic or weather conditions, or get alerted to sports updates in real time.

To deliver these services, the applications require information about you. What stores you like, where you are, where you live and work, what your favorite teams are.

Most have very little regard to caring for this private information you entrust to them. In fact, many leverage it for other uses — even sell it to third parties.

Have you ever thought about the price of a free app, and decided not to pay it? Let me know in the comments.