One person in a Smart Phone App group can compromise every member in a group, which is why you should be selective about which groups you are in.
Everything done on a Smart phone can be tracked not just by your phone manufacturer, ISP provider and the Apps you have installed on your phone, but by external sources like the sites you visit, as well as third party individuals like hackers or your very partner or spouse.
Tech Surveillance
Companies like Google, Twitter and Facebook, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp track everything you do for profit. Ever seen WhatsApp limit how many people you share a post with because it has been “Forwarded Many Times?” They track who generated it, who shared it and who read it. Heck... They even share the “Who Read It” info with the sender.Ever notice ads that appear in your browser that are related to what you said, watched or did on your phone? Your phone not only listens and logs everything you do or everywhere you go; it even watches you. What? You think that camera pointing at you is only for selfies?
Your credibility, integrity, reputation hinges on the ethics of the group. Every member of an online group can be deemed complicit and held liable for the dumb actions of one member of the group.
What about Group admins? Won’t they be viewed as endorsing or facilitating the content posted by members? Even if the content is deleted from the group or from a user’s phone, the info about the source and viewers of the post are still retained.
Courtesy - Etiquette
Every group has that one member that feels like the entire group wants to see their personal interests so they without conscience overload the phone storage of other members because they believe every single member is just as obsessed about whatever it is they are in to. It is not so bad if they use website links because that does not take up storage, but links to certain sites should be avoided as they could compromise the device of the user.
Connected By Contact List
Even if you are not in a group with someone that has done something stupid, you can be compromised because your name, telephone number, address and possibly other info are in their contacts. When they sign up for or download an App, they may unknowingly give that App access to all info in their contacts. Also from a legal or criminal standpoint, if they become a person of interest, you by association may become a person of interest.
Trust
Being in a group means you have to blindly and completely trust every single person in that group and hope that they don’t screenshot your activity, comments or reactions and share them with others outside of the group. Whether or not they do, your ISP, phone manufacturer or the Apps installed on the phone retain and share your data without your knowledge.
Ever tried showing a family member some photos and when they swipe left they stumbled upon undesirable content from a WhatsApp sender? Yes you can stop media from being downloaded from the App to your gallery, but did you also know that deleting downloaded media from your gallery does not mean the WhatsApp copy was removed from your phone?
Spy Programs - Hacking
There are programs whereby you can simply plug up the phone to a computer and access all info on that phone without a password. Hackers can do this over WiFi, when you charge your phone at a public location like at the airport or even on the plane. Just imagine the information you have on your phone and what they will find out about you, especially if you have never sanitized your data.
Unforeseen Circumstances
Ever considered what would happen if you got in a car accident, or your phone got lost or stolen? What about if you got hospitalized or died, who will be there to explain that you had no interest in what was found on your phone? Uhmmm... it was some members from a WhatsApp group that caused them to be there. “Then why did you allow that to continue or happen in the first place? You could have done something about it or removed yourself if your attempts to prevent it failed.” ...And just like that, your dignity, integrity and judgment fly out the window.The dumb decision to participate in or retain compromising content from others has now compromised you and defined your decisions and choices in life, because you did not take into consideration the possibility of losing the control of what others could access on your smart devices.
Technological advances have made us vulnerable to the ignorant or dumb decisions of others. Let us educate each other on how to protect ourselves, family, reputation, identity, financial assets and careers from being compromised and especially from those that prey on the naive. We also have to be careful of what we choose to do on our phones as that determines how much is revealed to tech companies who are subject to the demands of the authorities. We can prevent bad things from happening by making others smarter about their use of smart phones, because....
“Smart Phones Make Smart People Do Dumb Things. ~ SOM
