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   Worried about DeepSeek? Well, Google Gemini collects even more of your   
   personal data   
      
   Date:   
   Mon, 10 Mar 2025 12:41:30 +0000   
      
   Description:   
   Aggressive data collection and sharing practices  beware of the hidden    
   privacy price tag when using AI chatbot apps. Here's all you need to know.   
      
   FULL STORY   
   ======================================================================   
      
   China-developed DeepSeek AI has raised plenty of privacy and security    
   concerns since its launch, with some governments no longer offering the   
   service at all or launching investigations into its data-handling practices.   
   In terms of privacy, however, the Chinese chatbot may not be the worst   
   offender.    
      
   As per recent data from Surfshark , one of the best VPN providers on the   
   market, Google Gemini takes the gold medal for the most data-hungry AI    
   chatbot app. DeepSeek comes, in fact, only fifth out of the 10 most popular   
   applications for aggressive data collection.    
      
   Surfshark researchers also found a worrying 30% of the analyzed chatbots    
   share user data, such as contact details, location, and search and browsing   
   history, with third parties, including data brokers.   
      
   The real cost of using AI chatbots   
      
   As Tomas Stamulis, Chief Security Officer at Surfshark, explains, the apps we   
   use every day regularly collect our personal information. While some of this   
   data is necessary for the applications' functionality, others are linked to   
   our identities. He said: "AI chatbot apps can go even further by processing   
   and storing conversations."    
      
   To determine the real privacy price tag affixed to AI chatbots, Surfshark   
   researchers looked at the privacy details of the 10 most popular apps on the   
   Apple App Store. They then compared how many types of data each app collects,   
   whether it collects any data linked to its users, and whether the app    
   includes third-party advertisers.    
      
   The analysis uncovered an average of 11 different types of data out of the 35   
   possible. As mentioned earlier, Google Gemini stands out as the most   
   data-hungry service, collecting 22 of these data types, including highly   
   sensitive data like precise location, user content, the device's contacts   
   list, browsing history, and more.    
      
   Among the analyzed applications, only Google Gemini , Copilot , and    
   Perplexity were found to collect precise location data. The controversial   
   DeepSeek chatbot stands right in the middle, collecting 11 unique types of   
   data, such as user input like chat history. The main issue here  and what   
   attracted privacy complaints under GDPR rules  is that the provider's privacy   
   policy claims to retain this data for as long as it's necessary on servers   
   located in China.    
      
   Its rival, ChatGPT , is hot on Gemini's heels, with 10 types of data   
   collected. These include contact information, user content, identifiers,    
   usage data, and diagnostics. It's also worth noting that, while ChatGPT also   
   collects chat history, you can opt to use temporary chats instead to ensure   
   this info gets deleted after 30 days  or ask for the removal of personal data   
   from its training sets.    
      
   Apps' data collection is only one side of the privacy problem, though.    
      
   This is because, Stamulis explains: "This data could be used within the   
   company or shared across third-party networks, potentially reaching hundreds   
   of partners, and leading to highly targeted ads or an increase in spam    
   calls."    
      
   Researchers also found that 30% of these chatbot apps track user data, too.   
   This means that the user or device data collected from the app is linked with   
   third-party data for targeted advertising or advertising measurement    
   purposes.    
      
    Copilot , Poe , and Jasper are the three apps that collect data used to    
   track you. Essentially, this data "could be sold to data brokers or used to   
   display targeted advertisements in your app," Surfshark experts noted.    
   Copilot and Poe only collect device IDs for this purpose, while Jasper    
   gathers device IDs, product interaction data, advertising data, and other   
   usage data, which refers to "any other data about user activity in the app".    
      
   "As a rule, the more information is shared, the greater the risk of data   
   leaks," said Stamulis, adding that cybercriminals are known to exploit these   
   incidents to create personalized phishing attacks that could lead to massive   
   financial losses.    
      
   Stamulis recommends being mindful of the information you provide to chatbots,   
   reviewing your sharing settings, and disabling chat history whenever possible.   
      
   ======================================================================   
   Link to news story:   
   https://www.techradar.com/computing/cyber-security/worried-about-deepseek-well   
   -google-gemini-collects-even-more-of-your-personal-data   
      
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