If you ever really think about how much of our personal information we trustingly put on websites, apps and social media, it can make your stomach turn. Sometimes, when I’m hesitant about putting my information out there on the internet, I wonder how my grandparents would have lived in such a web-based world. It often conjures an image of my grandmother clutching her purse to her chest and shrieking, “They want what?”
Today, we regularly trade our privacy and personal information for convenience—me included. To be honest, I didn’t really know how much privacy I had sacrificed until I tested out a new app called Jumbo.
What Is Jumbo?
According to its website, Jumbo is a “Privacy Assistant” that watches after you and your iPhone settings to make sure you know what information you’re sharing and to fix any issues that you might not even have known about.
After downloading the app on my phone, I immediately let Jumbo loose on my digital footprint. Admittedly, I found it ironic that an app which is helping you protect your privacy asks for your passwords to a variety of digital accounts. But it claims that its software never releases your data, stating on its website that “We never collect, store or process data you manage through Jumbo, therefore we cannot and will never sell any of your data. In fact, we don’t even know who you are.”
Privacy on Social Media
Jumbo works to protect you from a wide variety of potential privacy issues, social media being a major target. It will protect your Facebook and Twitter profiles. It will also monitor your email addresses for any data breaches, notifying you which website was breached so that you can change your username and password if necessary.
The cool thing about Jumbo is that it looked at my Facebook profile settings and alerted me to information that was public that shouldn’t necessarily be public and pointed out critical issues to resolve. It also recommends privacy options on Facebook that might easily be overlooked.
The other interesting feature of Jumbo is the ability to delete old social media posts. When scanning my Facebook profile, it said: “Your Facebook profile has seen you through some phases. Jumbo can help you delete old posts. You can even choose if you want more recent ones deleted or just older ones.” Interesting. I will say, in an age in which what you put out there can be used against you, this feature alone may serve you well if you’ve ever gone on a social media rampage.
Clearing History
From the internet side of things, Google tracks everything and Alexa stores all the voice recordings of your requests. Creepy, right? Maybe that’s why I have yet to buy a smart speaker for my home. At any rate, if you are like everyone else, you probably have Alexa—and now, through Jumbo, you can clear your recordings along with your Google searches.
Either way you look at it, there’s a reason Jumbo has been getting some press these days. It’s time to start keeping our private things private again. Now that is a lifesaver!
Russell Lahodny is vice president of W.A.C.E. and vice president of local chamber relations at the California Chamber.