The downside of ‘free’ apps

It’s “a Silicon Valley tale as old as time,” said
Brian Feldman in NYMag.com. A technology
company comes along offering a handy service
that just so happens to be free. Users sign up in
droves. Then it’s revealed that the company has
been harvesting and selling their data, and those
same users revolt. This time, the pitchforks are
out for Unroll.me, an app that scans users’ email
accounts to unsubscribe them from junk mail. The
New York Times recently reported that Unroll.me
scanned its users’ email for Lyft receipts and sold
the anonymized data to Uber to help that firm
keep tabs on its ride-hailing rival. The revelation
was a minor detail in a bigger profile on Uber
CEO Travis Kalanick, but it sparked the predictable
firestorm on social media, with users angrily
denouncing Unroll.me. The company’s response
was just as typical: Don’t blame us. “It was in the
terms of service.”

What exactly is the big deal? said Stephen Bronner
in Entrepreneur.com. Internet users “should
be savvy enough by now to know that there is no such thing as
free.” Unroll.me warned users in its privacy policy that it might
sell their data, but there’s also nothing wrong with asking for
something in return for providing a useful service. Unroll.me
employees “need their paychecks, and I need a less cluttered
inbox.” Still, Unroll.me didn’t do itself any favors with its tonedeaf
response, said Ashley Carman in TheVerge
.com. One co-founder even wrote an angry blog
post asserting that if Unroll.me’s critics were
shocked by the company’s data collection, “they
have clearly been living under a rock.” The post
was “insensitive,” but it “has a point.” Nearly
every major tech company makes money from
user data. Why do you think your Gmail account
is free?

But just “how open was Unroll.me about what
it does?” asked Kashmir Hill in Gizmodo.com.
As with most tech companies, its privacy policy is
buried in pages of impenetrable legalese nobody
can realistically bother to read. By one estimate,
internet users would have to take an entire
month off work to read through the terms of service
agreements for all the apps and websites they
use. Unroll.me’s agreement is particularly egregious,
warning users in fine gray print of its vague
plans to gather “non-personal information” to
“build anonymous market research products
and services.” Whatever that is, it’s not a clear explanation of
Unroll.me’s business model. Take this uproar as a reminder to
check the permissions you’ve given various apps to access your
email and social media accounts, said Brian Barrett in Wired
.com. Once again, the tech industry adage holds true: “If it’s
free, you’re the product.”