PayPal has made a new change to its policy for collecting user data and sharing it. Furthermore, the shocking part is that it’s set to default.
The silent change is not uncommon in the world of tech today as every week we hear about similar endeavors taking place. But the good news here is that users do have the time and chance to opt out before their information is leaked online without giving consent.
As per the company’s policy updates that were rolled out last week to American users, the service will exchange data with other third-party merchants to better improve shopping experiences and make it more personalized for users.
Beginning at the start of Summer next year, this latest change will cost users their privacy but also enable the app to collect data from November of this year!
All users are selected as default and that’s a major issue as that goes against the GDPR rules and regulations. After coming across an American account and complaining about the matter on Twitter, some experts tried to see if the same was the case for those based in the UK. After checking the privacy, it was confirmed that this option was toggled through automatic means.
It’s critical to remember that policy changes won’t be the same for all regions and users. The best way to know where you stand is to give your profile settings a check and reverse anything you don’t want shared through the app.
Depending on where the user might be located, the platform will find another option for data sharing but that would be under another name. Again, it might not be visible if a certain nation you’re residing in does not allow it.
If you’re located in the US, simply go to the Profile Settings and click on Data and Privacy. Then click on personalized shopping which is found under manage your shared information. The option will be toggled by default so turn it off.
As the news goes viral, the company is making changes to its Terms of Service document to ensure data given to merchants from November is mentioned in bold to avoid legal action. So the only way out from this is to opt out and switch it off.
“PayPal is updating their ToS to let themselves give your data to merchants starting Nov & they’re banking on people not knowing to opt out, SO to opt out before they start: go to Settings >Data & Privacy > Manage shared info >Personalized shopping, & toggle that sh*t off“, tweeted Ellen Datlow.
Image: DIW-Aigen
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