Privacy and Ethics Blog
For this blog post, I looked at the app Hooked, which is an app that restaurants use to promote daily deals and specials that they offer. The first line of the Privacy Policy is “In general, we collect Personal Information that you submit to us voluntarily through Hooked.” I feel like this is not a common thing that many apps say in their Privacy Policy. Three things that I see that the app collects are information about me and my friends who use Hooked from any social network you may have connected from, my address and phone number (if I win a contest or sweepstakes), and Cookies to gather information about my visit to a restaurant.
Obviously, this information will be useful to Hooked so they can promote and improve their app. I feel like it is ethical for them to gather this data even though I didn’t read the Privacy Policy beforehand. I feel like in this day and age, everyone who downloads an app knows that there is something in the terms and conditions that will collect data on them- it comes with the technology that we live with. Therefore, I don’t think that this should be considered hacking. We know what we are getting ourselves into when we download the app and we shouldn’t be mad when the app uses our information.
It depends on the situation. If it something drastic or important that I feel needs to be leaked, then yes I would. Otherwise, I do not think that it is worth it to live in asylum in Russia just to tell some people some stuff. Some people feel like it is their civic duty to let everyone know what they find; I, for one, am not one of those people.
I think it was ethical to hack this data in the first place. In today’s world there are so many ways and methods to hide things, so hacking is one of the only ways of uncovering the truth about corrupt people. I think it is fair to put people on trial for the information found while hacking, although I think it will be a very difficult case to pursue. I believe that the defendants will push for the whole “stolen information” thing and get out of it, but what do I know. It is a relatively new debate and I am very interested to see where it goes and what it leads to (if anything).
Next Post
The issue of hacking for a good cause is tricky, and while I agree that in this case it was ethical, I would question whether every case of “hacktivism” is ethical. I too am also looking forward to seeing how that debate of being prosecuted with “stolen information” will go.
I agree that there is the possibility that someone could use the excuse of “stolen information” and potentially get out of the consequences of their actions. I also think something interesting to add to the conversation is whether the hackers should be persecuted for leaking the false information. It’s a tricky argument because I would argue no if they reveal corruptness, but yes if they leak private secrets that relate to public security.
I think this is a really interesting thing to read about. To me, it seems as though this app does not really seem to invade a user’s privacy, at least not compared to others. I like that you mentioned that they gain access to your information for a certain thing (sweepstakes, etc.). A lot of apps do not give their direct reasoning behind it so it is nice to see that. I am also with you in the fact that I am not one of those people that feel I should commit an illegal act just to reveal a certain bit of information. The power of some organizations is too much for one person to try and overcome that, so in that case, I guess I am saying that I think that it is ethical to hack for something that may help the overall good, I do not believe it is wise to do so.
It’s interesting that they put upfront that they collect data on people instead of burying that in their terms and conditions under a heavy amount of legal wording. I also personally feel that we shouldn’t just accept that people will take our data in exchange for using a simple app, especially a game app. However, I can understand why you would feel that way.
Thanks for the post!