In this digital age, the most important thing for a technology company is data. Well, data is of utmost importance to anyone may it be a business or a person. However, we are not talking about the internal data of the organisation. It is about the data which the companies are taking away from you without you even knowing about it. In this modern age of technology, the most, data is the most abundant and most important resource. 

Here is how these tech-giants are sneaking away from your data and using them for their benefit.

1. Amazon

We all are familiar with Amazon’s Alexa, the digital assistant. Some of us spend a good amount of time talking to Alexa and asking it to do things for us. However, what we are aware of is that everything which one speaks to Alexa is being recorded and the data files are sent by the Alexa device to Amazon’s server.

This has been confirmed by a report of Bloomberg. The company has hired individuals for hearing the hours and hours-long data recorded. As explained by the company, the data is being used by them for providing the user with a better experience by using the data to improve Alexa’s service quality.

2. Google

Artificial Intelligence is the new hype of the technology and almost everyone has heard of it. Companies have been working on AI technology to develop apps, system, software and much more using AI technology. 

In a recent report, it has emerged that Google has been buying data about people’s face for as cheap as Rs. 350/-. This is being done to train Google’s Artificially Intelligent Facial Recognition Program. 

Apart from this, Google also uses a lot of data through our google engine searches and the online activity on the chrome browser and uses it to serve us with ads about online shopping, products, services, TV Shows and much more.

3. Apple

Just like Amazon uses the data recorded by Alexa, the biggest smartphone company in the world, Apple uses the data recorded by it’s AI assistant “Siri”. The company has also confirmed that they have hired contractors to listen to recorded data. Further, it plays a vital role in grading the responses by Siri to the questions asked by the user.

4. Facebook

Facebook messenger app also records the data and voice messages sent by the user to their connections and friends online. This feature exists in the app and is off by default unless you permit the app to access your data. The problem is that even if one user allows Facebook to use this data, then the privacy of another person in the chat also gets hindered, thus exploiting many people.

5. Microsoft

Satya Nadella, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp., smiles during the Microsoft Developers Build Conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S., on Wednesday, May 10, 2017. Microsoft said it will focus investments on Azure cloud services meant for the Internet of Things, in which multiple sensors and smaller computing devices track data that can be analyzed by the company’s cloud and artificial intelligence tools. Photographer: David Ryder/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Microsoft contractors are asked to listen to everything recorded by Microsoft’s video calling App “Skype” and Microsoft’s AI tool “Cortana”. The hired listeners have to listen to each and everything that is recorded by the said tools. One of the listeners has have revealed about hearing people asking Cortana to search for porn, narrating their details like the full address and even having phone sex.

6. Snapchat

Snapchat’s employed listeners have revealed that some of their co-workers have used the tools to spy on the users multiple times. They have manipulated the rights to sneak into the user’s data such as email addresses, phone numbers, photos, etc. 

7. Uninstall trackers

Uninstall a tracker is a tool, which is incorporated by developers in many of the apps. This helps the companies track whether a user who has uninstalled their app is going to their competitor.

However, some of the cheap developers also use this tool to send ads to users using the collected data.