A free new way to keep your social media privacy in check and understand your ‘worth’ to social media companies has launched and chances are very high you need it right now.
AVG has launched a brand new version of its PrivacyFix app, available free for PCs, Macs, iPhones, iPads and Androids, helping people understand their monetisation ‘worth’ to social media companies and ensuring social sites aren’t leaking personal information that should stay private.
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| How much are you worth to Facebook in dollar terms? AVG PrivacyFix 3.0 lets you find out! |
AVG PrivacyFix 3.0 allows users to check, manage and personalise their privacy settings across popular social media sites including Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter and across websites in general, from an easy-to-use central control panel.
Offering customised features for different devices on multiple platforms, AVG says PrivacyFix “provides a unified approach to privacy for the connected consumer and household.”
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| How much are you worth to Google? Is it more or less than your friends? |
The new version now extends its scope to include the incredibly popular Twitter network, enabling users to see how much they are ‘worth’ to all the key social media platforms.
This is because Twitter, Facebook and others monetise their sites by harnessing personal data and selling it or information around it to advertisers, with the value of personal information having become the new “big business”.
PrivacyFix 3.0 lets users see the extent to which their social media account settings are exposing personal information, and importantly, can now understand how much they could potentially be worth to the companies who would look to monetise their social media interactions.
Another brand-new feature is a Progress Meter that “gives users a better all-in-one view of their social media privacy settings, including showing which advertisers are tracking them online and offering a snapshot of their overall journey to taking control of their privacy.”
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| How AVG PrivacyFix can help you secure your privacy. |
The free app allows users to take steps to assess their exposure and apply one-click fixes to their settings, which include:
– Choosing who can tag them in photos on Facebook
– Preventing their location from being made public on the key social networks
– Deciding if others can find them through the email address attached to their account
– De-authorising access to old and unused apps connected to their Twitter account
Key features in PrivacyFix 3.0 include:
– A personal privacy dashboard, available when you want it, on your phone, tablet, and computer.
– The ability to keep your privacy up to date, as AVG PrivacyFix lets you know when settings change or new settings need review.
– Guidance on keeping loved ones private by showing you when their Facebook and Twitter profiles may be exposed.
– Information that helps you understand who’s collecting data about you and what your data may be worth to Facebook, Google and Twitter.
Michael McKinnon, AVG’s Security Advisor, said: “As more people realise that social networks and popular websites are collecting data about their activity for monetisation purposes, AVG PrivacyFix provides them with an easy way to understand and control this data collection.
“But it’s not just about reputable sites using data to sell advertising. We increasingly live our lives online and share more personal information regularly, and as such we risk leaving ourselves open to growing online threats such as cyberbullying, cyberstalking and identity theft. Parents, in particular, are increasingly concerned about protecting family privacy, and the Progress Meter is a way for them to manage all of the settings in one place simply and confidently”, concluded Mr McKinnon.
More information on the free AVG PrivacyFix 3.0 is available here and the PC, Mac, smartphone and tablet versions can be downloaded here.
AVG’s free Digital Privacy Guide is available to download here.
Below is AVG’s “Privacy Timeline” show how privacy has evolved over the last 100+ years.
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| Here’s how privacy has evolved over that last 100+ years. |
