THE 6 MOST IMPORTANT PRIVACY SETTINGS FOR FACEBOOK, GOOGLE & CO.
Your personal data and preferences are in great demand on the web. We reveal what you can do to improve your privacy on the Internet and on the most popular social media networks
With the privacy and the data protection in the net that is such a thing: On the one hand, providers like Facebook, Google or Microsoft can tailor their services all the better, the more the user reveals about himself. That can be handy. On the other hand, it is also happily hushed up that the information collected incidentally sometimes passed on to third parties, used for personalized advertising or even sold. Added to this is the risk of cyber-thieves stealing data, which can even lead to complete identity theft.
The fact is: So really you can not protect one hundred percent. Rather, it’s about isolating the data gathering as much as possible and preventing strangers from gaining access to your user accounts. How exactly you can do that and which settings are the most important, we reveal here:
1. Facebook: Important privacy and privacy settings
Privacy and Facebook is almost a contradiction. However, there are a few things you can do: In the privacy settings of Facebook you can define who can see your posts and how well your profile can be found by others. If you do not want to trumpet everything of yourself into the world, limit the visibility of the posts to “friends” and hide the friends list with the setting “Just me.” To deny Facebook personalized advertising based on your usage data, turn everything off in your ad settings (see picture below).
The security of your Facebook account should also be important to you so that not only hackers can not fool your identity. Use the two-level authentication in the settings under the menu item “Security and Login” . Also, a kind of hacker warning can set up , which sounds the alarm as soon as an unknown device logs in with your access data.
2. Instagram: More privacy and account security
The Instagram app offers few security and privacy settings on the iPhone or Android device. If you prefer to use the app to share pictures and videos with your friends and approved followers, you should set your account to private so your profile is closed to the public. Here’s how it works: Tap the profile icon in the bottom right corner of the app. Then at the top right on the three points (or on the gear on the iPhone). In the settings finally there is the possibility to activate the private account. Security tip: There you should also set up the “two-stage authentication”.
3. Google: Making collecting and using your data difficult
A Google Account holder can see in the Google Dashboard what data the company has stored about you with its multitude of services, and which ones are publicly visible. Practical: From there, you usually also come via direct link in the settings of the respective service to manage the privacy. You should pay special attention to the activity settings and the privacy check , because this is where Google’s compilation passion is put in its place. If you are not in the mood for personalized advertising, you can switch it off completely in the settings for advertising . Security tip: Google also offers oneTwo-level authentication that you should enable to better protect your account.
4. Twitter: Improve privacy
At twitter.com/settings/safety you can make all necessary data protection settings. On the one hand, you should uncheck “Tweet location” to prevent a motion profile from being created by you. It also makes sense, under the item “photo markers”, to not allow anyone to mark you in photos unsolicited. If you want to privatize your Twitter account, you can check it at the top of the list by checking “Protect my tweets”. Afterwards, only your confirmed followers will see your tweets. The most important thing at the end: under the menu item Individualization and Data, click on “Deactivate all”,
5. Windows 10: Taming data gathering anger
Although Microsoft’s interest in your usage behavior has greatly increased with Windows 10, the operating system in the settings under “Privacy” also offers a clear and bundled possibility to clearly define the access and usage rights of your data. If you do not use any of the listed apps, you can confidently revoke all permissions. In the sub-item “General” you can also forbid Microsoft to create an advertising ID via you. For example, this prevents you from being identified to advertising providers across multiple apps. It is also advisable to set the transmitted diagnosis and usage data to “Simple” under the item “Feedback and Diagnosis” (see picture), in order to – among other things – prevent
Professional tip: You improve your privacy with Windows 10 quite a bit if you do without the creation of a Microsoft account, because then the collected data can no longer be assigned to a specific user profile.
6. WhatsApp: protect status, profile picture and privacy
With the popular messenger you can protect your profile picture, your WhatsApp status, your info text as well as the “last online” status from unwanted glances under Settings> Account> Privacy . Nobody cares when you were online last. The rest should be limited to “My Contacts” to prevent strangers outside of your contact list from secretly spying on you.
