I made a tool to help you read privacy policies

[rejectconvenience]

I made a tool to help you read privacy policies


Link to video:
https://youtu.be/hQqR4tKRiKs

Here's the description:
~~~ Resources and References ~~~
Privacy Visualizer: https://rejectconvenience.com/privacy-visualizer/

~~~ Apps and Privacy Policies Referenced ~~~
1Password: https://1password.com/legal/privacy
Stripe: https://stripe.com/privacy
Paypal: https://www.paypal.com/us/legalhub/privacy-full
Venmo: https://venmo.com/legal/us-privacy-policy/
Snapchat App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/snapchat/id447188370
Snapchat: https://values.snap.com/privacy/privacy-policy
Instagram App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/instagram/id389801252
Instagram: https://privacycenter.instagram.com/pol ... y_redirect
YouTube App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/youtube-w ... d544007664
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks ... s/privacy/
Amazon App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/amazon-sh ... d297606951
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer ... 4ZB8MHFRNJ
TikTok App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tiktok/id835599320
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/legal/page/us/privacy-policy/en
Spotify App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/spotify-m ... d324684580
Spotify: https://www.spotify.com/us/legal/privacy-policy/

~~~ Other Resources ~~~
Data breaches in the first half of 2024: https://www.idtheftcenter.org/wp-conten ... alysis.pdf
Apple Developer App Privacy Guidelines: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/a ... y-details/
Apple Developer Additional Insights for Data Usage: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/u ... -data-use/
How motion data is used: https://developer.apple.com/documentation/coremotion
Reject Convenience initial research that kicked off this idea: https://rejectconvenience.com/200-apps/

~~~ Accuracy of iPhone location ~~~
Ultra wideband: https://appleinsider.com/articles/20/10 ... mepod-mini
Wifi: https://www.lifewire.com/range-of-typic ... ork-816564
Bluetooth: https://techreviewadvisor.com/bluetooth ... can-it-go/


The code
I mentioned in the video that I'd post the code I used to make this tool in case someone wants to do something else with it.
So each button is set up like this:
edit: haha whoops maybe not... I'll figure this out

I know it's not perfect, but it works. I did that for each button, and just plugged it into a basic site builder as a custom HTML snippet, though the early tests of this were all pure HTML/CSS (which was fun to re-learn).

[CitricScion]

Thanks for this video! Not only was it really helpful to better understand the details of privacy policies, but it reminded me that you have a forum!

[xan]

Learning more specifics about how iPhone's location triangulation is done was really interesting, thank you!

[rejectconvenience]

@xan It's worth noting that the same is true for Android phones too, just maybe not down the half inch in all cases (it does depend). Heck, even laptops have Bluetooth, which can pinpoint where it is down to about 3 feet. You don't have to be connected to the device either, as long as there is bluetooth ready devices nearby, it can be pinpointed (I need to find the research on that, I apparently didn't write it down).

[rodak]

Hey everyone,

I fully support this tool and believe it’s incredibly helpful. Personally, I’ve learned a lot from using it.
However, I did experience some challenges with readability, and I noticed that the page lagged whenever I changed the category status.

To address these issues, I took the initiative to improve the design using Bootstrap 5.3. You can view the updated page hosted on GitHub Pages https://rodak123.github.io/PrivacyVisualizerRedesign/.

My code is released under the CC0 license, so please feel free to make any further improvements!

[rejectconvenience]

THIS IS SO GOOD @rodak, so much better for readability! The biggest challenge I faced is all I know is basic HTML lol I'm so happy to know people with better coding skills than me found this inspiring

I'm going to link this in the video, since I saw a couple people mention they wanted a more accessible version.

[rejectconvenience]

Someone left a comment that was a really really good idea:

Make it an extension, so when you're signing up for a service, or you're looking at a privacy policy, it'll pop up (or it could be popped up) so you can review it side by side. Then, it could store your result in the browser, which would avoid making an account, which is good for privacy.

Then, (somehow) on the back end, it could tell you if a service has updated their privacy policy since the last time you read it, which would allow people to be more informed!

I think this still nicely forces people to actually read the policies, but they could also save what they ranked it at a quick glance, and be given a chance to update it every time the policy is updated.

I don't have the coding skills for this, I have no idea how to code something like that, but if someone wants to run with that, I'd super support that.