Technology
You should DELETE Google Photos from your phone right now, cyber-expert warns
APPLE users have been told to delete Google Photos from their devices by a concerned security expert.
Cyber and surveillance expert Zak Doffman has given three reasons why iPhone users should consider getting rid of the app.
App StoreGoogle Photos can link a lot of data to you[/caption]
Doffman wrote in a Forbes article: “There are three reasons why Apple users should delete these apps.
“First, using Google Photos means giving the platform full access to your photos. It’s all or nothing.
“Apple has a relatively new privacy-preserving tool in its photos app, to limit the photos any apps can access.
“But Google Photos won’t accept that, insisting that you change the setting to give it access to everything if you want to use the app.”
He lists the the Google Photos privacy label on the App Store as another reason to avoid the app.
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The label reveals just how much data could be collected on you when using the app and it’s a lot compared to Apple Photos.
The data collected by Google Photos can include location, your search history and your purchase history.
You can limit Google’s access to this data but that can limit the functionality of the Photos app.
Doffman’s third and final issue with the app is its use of cloud artificial intelligence on user photos.
He wrote: “There is no implication that Google is doing anything more than the obvious—but that’s the thing about the cloud, it’s really just someone else’s computer.”
The expert concluded that Apple users should make use of the privacy that Apple has put in place and not download Google Photos despite some of its benefits.
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In other news, a new Instagram hoax is trying to steal logins by faking a “copyright violation”.
Scammers are using Google Alerts to send out links to malware.
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And, Windows 10 users are being told to update their PC to escape an ‘Eternal Darkness’ flaw.
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