One such example is screen scraping, a data collection practice that has been banned overseas and needs to be banned in Australia for its security and privacy issues.
What is screen scraping?
Screen scraping is an automated process to collate content from a website or app by taking snapshots of data on a display for use somewhere else.
While it does initially require ‘permission’ from the user when they hand over their login details and password, the user has no control over mauritius cell phone database the ongoing collection process.
It is essentially unregulated data sharing: the scraper can access it, download it, harvest it, sell it, do whatever they would like with it without the active consent or knowledge of the customer.
Why agree to it?
The most benevolent use for screen-scraped content is to find out how a customer is using a website or app in order to make improvements to the organisation’s product, service or design.
A friend recently emailed to ask me about a service that helps with school fee loans; it had requested their online banking username and password.
They were confused about why they would hand over such sensitive information.
I explained that the payoff was being able to use the service digitally – without having to deal with PDF statements and paper – but that, until they changed their password, the service would continue to collect data at any time.
In banking, this practice means giving a third party your login credentials, allowing it to log into your account on your behalf without your knowledge to scrape your data.
You can see that this is problematic for several reasons: data security, breach liability, and a violation of your T&Cs for starters.
Screen scraping is problematic, and it’s unfortunate that some organisations are defending its limited legitimate uses instead of finding other, more secure and consumer-friendly, methods to collect the data they need.