Recently many companies have had more access to the consumers’ life than ever before. This is not just with the corona tracking that Apple and Google are doing, but with many other new technologies reducing the protection of our personal life. Such as seen also with a new game Valorant. They implemented new anti-cheating software that has kernel-level access on the computers that install it, which would boot up whether or not the game was being played. This gives the software and therefore the company unlimited access to the computer regardless of permissions. While Riot has assured users that the software was only meant for anti-cheating purposes, one malicious employee could effectively ruin all computers running the software with a few lines of code. Additionally, technology is only getting more advanced, and companies and the government are increasingly gaining more and more access to our lives.
While I agree with you that that one instance is undeniably worrying, I have to disagree with your connection to the article. Yes, companies are gaining more access to aspects of our lives as technology advances and allows it. However, in this instance, two extremely reputable companies have begun a project that not only offers an incredible tool to stop the spread of COVID-19, but also takes into account the extreme importance of the consumers’ privacy. The application utilizes several techniques specifically designed to keep the user safe and their privacy private.
Its almost an invasion of privacy but like in today’s era does privacy even matter? like yeah theres gonna be malicious people with malicious intent but like when everyones life is open to everyone else you cant really be malicious with out someone knowing about it weather that be the FBI or the Russians or what not.
The user does have to agree to a privacy policy stating these things. By downloading the software, you agree to the terms stated. But them installing other things that you don’t consent to, like adware, spyware, or even malware is not okay.
I mean, at least they notified you, so that was nice of them, as you were able to uninstall the software since you didn’t want a company to have kernel-level access to your computer.
Companies should be allowed to go as far as is consented by the user. To inform the user about the potential harm, however, I feel that companies should use a combination of both the terms of service(which would serve the purpose of highlighting the specifics and minor details) and a summary or general warning regarding use of the product that would put emphasis on the important takeaways of the terms of service in an effort to keep the people that do not read the terms of service safer.