PreciseSecurity.com recently interviewed Jumbo Privacy Chief Executive Pierre Valade where an array of privacy-related issues were discussed. From the interview, Valade talked about the role of internet users in ending privacy violations. Furthermore, the executive also explained the motivation behind Jumbo Privacy’s unique way of handling user’s private data.
On future plans, Valade shared the exciting features set to be added to the Jumbo Privacy app later this year.
Jumbo privacy goal is to help users protect their online data on social networks and internet services. Why should users use your product?
“Jumbo is an app for iPhone and Android that makes it easy for people to take back control of their privacy and security by scanning the apps and websites that you use every day and offering actionable recommendations.
Taking control of your privacy is both complex and time-consuming. We make it simple. And everything Jumbo does is right from your phone, so you’re not handing any data over. No data ever leaves your phone.
By making it easy for people to take back control of their privacy, we are empowering them to decide how their data gets shared and for what purpose. The opaque and complex nature of data collection results in most people being completely unaware of what they’re sharing and for what purpose. By giving control back to the people, we are helping build an internet that values trust and transparency.”
Your app collects private information from users to help them remove private information from social networks. What measures have you put in place to guarantee these users that their private data is safe with you?
“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.
I think this is the most fundamental decision we have made while building Jumbo: the application and its functionalities are phone-based: all the data processing happens from/on your iPhone. This means that we do not collect nor access any of your personal information when you use Jumbo, not even to identify you for analytics purposes.
We can’t lose what we don’t have. If we don’t have our users’ private information, we cannot compromise it in the event of a breach.”
Can Jumbo Privacy be named as a threat to social networks?
“We do not comment or speculate on how other companies might view us. Jumbo’s mission is to help build the internet we can all trust. For us, that means making it easy for users to take back control of their privacy across the internet.”
In your opinion, which social network platform has the most confusing privacy settings? Do you think the platforms intentionally make it difficult to take full control of your privacy within the platform?
“I have generally found managing my own privacy too complex and too time-consuming. If that is my experience, it would probably be impossible for someone like my mom or dad. This is why we are building Jumbo: to make privacy simple for everyday users.”
Can you share the number of users Jumbo Privacy currently has? Elaborate on which social network has attracted more users in terms of protecting data?
“Today, Jumbo protects more than 80,000 users on iOS and Android. Over 75% of our users have connected either Facebook, Google or Dark Web WScan.”
You currently offer smart protection for Twitter, Facebook, Alexa Voice, and Google search. Do you have plans to incorporate other platforms like Instagram and Linkedin? If so, what are the timelines?
“Since launching Jumbo last April, we have added several more features to protect users’ accounts on Facebook, Google, Twitter and Amazon Alexa, such as the ability to delete old Facebook posts, Google and YouTube search histories, Dark Web Scan and two-factor authentication for some apps.
Jumbo is also planning to launch a premium version of the app at the end of March. The premium version will likely support LinkedIn, Instagram, Reddit, and a few other popular apps. We will also launch the ability to block hundreds of ad trackers that are constantly sending data from your phone.
Later in 2020, Jumbo is also planning to add protections for small businesses, including privacy and security features for Slack, Salesforce, Mailchimp, Office 365, GitHub and Dropbox.
Our most ambitious project currently under development is the ability for users to send Data Subject Access Rights or “DSAR” requests, i.e. requests to companies to delete their data or stop selling it to third parties – rights granted to users under GDPR and CCPA.”
Should internet users take personal responsibility or rely on legislation in protecting their data? Why?
“Building the internet we can all trust is everyone’s responsibility. Without concerted efforts from governments, corporations and regular individuals and users, we will likely continue to see data privacy violations.”