What data are you comfortable giving to companies when using their tech tools?
We’re giving AI tools and other tech companies more and more data.
And it’s not just our names and email addresses.
Sometimes, it gets a little too personal:
– Phone numbers. I hate getting SMS messages, especially since I only use my phone when absolutely necessary. (Family calls and important things related to doctors)
– Biometric data. Like fingerprints.
– Banking information.
So where do you draw the line?
What are you comfortable sharing with tech companies, and what’s a big NO for you?
And from the companies' side – how do you protect your users' data?
I've started taking a few precautions myself:
– I use separate email addresses to test new tools.
– I have a separate card for subscriptions. Learned that one the hard way after I couldn't cancel a subscription to one tool. Thankfully was able to manage blocking money transfer from the card.
Replies
Payment info: I worked in Fintech for a few years so I know that banking information never gets to the company. It stays with the intermediate company (Plaid, stripe, link, etc). Now, if the form requesting the information is on the company's domain, that's definitely a NO for me. Note, this is for the US market, not sure how it works elsewhere.
Phone number: I have a Google Voice number specifically for this. I can easily mark their number as spam if they get too annoying with the text messages
Address: Some companies ask for this. I never give it out
@davidoduk Can you leak which company asks for addresses? :D
@thamibenjelloun hahaha, The more AI agents know about you the better they serve you. Isn't it?
@thamibenjelloun I cannot imagine what I would do without Google and GPT :D
I’m comfortable sharing basic information needed to use a tool but banking details and biometric data are a hard no unless there’s a clear and necessary reason transparency about data storage and usage matters just as much as the features a tool offers
@shivam_kushwaha16 Do you also have separate accounts for those purposes? I would rather put some money aside to make sure that the main account will be scammed :D
@busmark_w_nika I am currently using 3 bank accounts one for my salary one for daily expenses and one for savings 😅 Now I am thinking of opening another account specifically for investments
@shivam_kushwaha16 lol, that's too many accounts. I would have a mess among them and separately to remember password to each one :D
From the company side, since you asked. I run a small consumer app and the rule I ended up with is that the privacy policy is a list of places data may go, and nothing goes anywhere that isn't on the list. It sounds obvious, but it bites in small ways. Example: when someone files a support request, I get a ping on my phone through a messenger so I can answer fast. That ping contains only the ticket id and a category. No email, no message text, because the messenger isn't in the policy and I'm not going to add it for my own convenience. Payment is the easy one: card numbers never touch my servers, the stores and the payment provider hold them, and I only ever see "a purchase happened". The hardest line for me was other people's data. The app reminds you of birthdays, so it stores the names of people who never signed up for anything. I decided that it has to, or the reminder can't say whose birthday it is, but it meant saying so in the policy and in both stores' data forms, which almost nobody does for a field that small. As a user: a separate email per tool, like you, and no phone number unless the product is literally about calls.
@gbasovv This is actually a good case. We also have access only to the dashboard where we can see the purchase happened, but the refund was unsuccessfully initiated.
The user has to lobby for himself in the payment company (the 3rd party) himself. Many users see that as a downside, and then, in their eyes, our company looks like a scam.
How do you manage to communicate this situation?
@busmark_w_nika The honest answer is that I can't fix it, only make it not look like a dodge. Three things. First, I never say "contact Apple" bare. The reply carries the exact path: on iPhone it is reportaproblem.apple.com, on Android it is Play Store, Payments and subscriptions, Budget and history. A path to click reads as help, the name of a company reads as a brush off. Second, I say why: the card was charged by the store, not by us, we never saw the card, and only the one who charged it can send the money back. People accept that when it is stated plainly. Third, our side reacts on its own: when the store refunds, their webhook reaches us and the credits are taken back, so I can promise that the account will be in order without promising the refund itself. And the one case that is ours, a purchase paid by card on the site, we refund ourselves, so that user hears "I'll look into it" and never has to lobby anyone.
Hello to everyone in this discussion room. I completely understand the frustration Nika has with privacy and the amount of data harvested by "Big Tech". In some situations you can't even draw the line because it simply means you can't use the service that you need at all. I recently published my credential manager extension on Google Chrome Web Store and I had no choice about my privacy and personal data that has to be made public. They're not even interested in my business name but developer personal details. This is a situation where you can't draw the line.
@richatsealedvault Do you already have your first users?
@busmark_w_nika Yes, I have a number of organic users. People I reached out to directly and a few I assume who found my YouTube videos and signed up.
Totally depends on the company, and whether it’s work or personal. I’m more concerned about companies being hacked than sharing personal info. Some companies, like Apple and Amazon, I’m fine sharing with because I trust they will work hard to protect my info, even though I also know they will use it to target me. I’m still careful about data like SSNs, but I’m ok trading my data for improved functionality or to use a tool for free.
I’m fine sharing my email. My phone number depends on the site and why they need it. If I’m just trying out a new tool, I’d rather skip it.
the line for me is anything a tool asks for before its shown any value. phone number at signup for something i havent even tried yet is an instant no
from the builder side id guess the honest test is can you explain in one sentence why you need each field. if you cant you probably shouldnt be collecting it
curious if anyone actually reads the data section of a privacy policy before signing up or only after something goes wrong