Privacy and security in the Clubhouse app; Clubhouse is a new voice-based social network. Here’s what about Privacy and security in the Clubhouse app and how to use it.
Privacy and security in the Clubhouse app
It has been a while since a new application called Clubhouse has caused a stir on social media. This application started working precisely four years ago, in March 2017. At that time, only some investors were present in this application. A month later, in April 2016, the Clubhouse app was released on the Apple App Store. If you don’t know how to use Clubhouse, click on it.
Why is everyone talking about Clubhouse?
The Clubhouse is a new social network based on sound. You can join different groups and talk to others privately. Why is everyone talking about Clubhouse? This application has increased in recent months. We can say that Clubhouse has come a hundred years in one night. It’s tough to believe that a program created by an unknown company will turn into a unicorn startup in a few months.
Startups worth more than $ 1 billion are called unicorn startups. Few startups in the world have reached the value of billions of dollars. According to the latest valuation on January 21, 2021, the Clubhouse is worth more than $ 1 billion. It means that this startup has reached Uber and Airbnb in less than a year. A few months ago, the value of the Clubhouse was estimated at only $ 100 million.
How did Clubhouse come about?
You may be wondering why Clubhouse came up so much at once? Statistical data show that Clubhouse has been downloaded more than 2.3 million times in January 2021 alone. It means that more than 30% of the downloads of this application were done in January 2021. To download this app tapping on download Clubhouse for android.
The Clubhouse is available in 154 countries. (Apple App Store operates in 175 countries.) Among these countries, Clubhouse has been named the most downloaded App Store app in Germany, Japan, Slovakia, and Turkey. At the beginning of February 2021 alone, about 440,000 people downloaded the app in Japan.
How did Clubhouse suddenly grow so big? The reason for the growth of Clubhouse in this short period has several different aspects. The first reason for the development of this application was its new idea. In fact, there is no such thing as the Clubhouse app, and that’s the trump card for this app.
Another reason for the popularity of the Clubhouse is the pervasiveness of virtual communications during the Corona. The same thing happened with the Zoom service, and after Corona, its users grew significantly. In the current situation where most people are at home, they need ways to increase their social connections. It is why such applications are so popular.
Another reason for the explosive growth of the Clubhouse has to do with its entertainment aspect. In the Clubhouse, you can discuss different topics with your favorite topics. The Clubhouse is an attractive place for talkative people to unwind. On the other hand, this application can be handy for knowledge and training.
The last reason for the Clubhouse to be known is the presence of celebrities such as celebrities and influencers. For example, two well-known German podcast personalities created a chain of invitations in the telegram, through which German influencers, journalists, and politicians entered the Clubhouse. As a result, the app quickly spread to Germany, ranking first in the German App Store. To know more about Clubhouse app invite, click on it.
None of the reasons for the popularity of the Clubhouse app has been as influential as the latter. The culmination of Clubhouse goes back to the presence of Elon Musk on this social network and his tweets about Clubhouse. In January 2021, Elon Musk attended the GOOD TIME Club and interviewed.
On February 10, 2021, Elon Musk announced that he would be at the Clubhouse with Kanye West. On February 13, Elon Musk took to Twitter to ask Vladimir Putin to talk to him at the Clubhouse.
Elon Musk’s activity in Clubhouse had a significant impact on the pervasiveness of this application. In addition, the presence of celebrities such as Drake, Kevin Hart, Jared Leto, and Tiffany Hadish has attracted many users to the Clubhouse. In the image below, you can see the list of the most famous Clubhouse users and the number of followers of each:
What’s up at the Clubhouse?
After logging in to the app, you need to select a category and complete your profile. This process is very similar to registering on Twitter. The next step is to find and follow other friends and people. When you follow someone in the Clubhouse, the various events of this application will appear for you. You can attend and attend public events as a listener.
If you want others to find you in the Clubhouse quickly, we recommend that you choose the right profile for you. Click on Clubhouse profile maker to create an attractive profile.
Note that in Clubhouse, you can’t see users’ profile pictures in full size, but we have provided this possibility for you. Click on the Clubhouse profile downloader to download user profiles in the shortest possible time and highest quality.
There is a calendar in the Clubhouse that shows future events. This way, you can participate in various events. In addition, you can find new clubs and events based on their topics. In this application, there are different categories that you follow other clubs and events according to your tastes.
More than 180 risky institutions and investors have invested in this startup. The platform has no plans to make money at the moment but has announced that its beta phase will start this year. The goal of the Clubhouse is to implement the collective revenue model using advertising. Like Facebook and YouTube, it spends part of its advertising revenue on content producers.
Why should we be afraid of Clubhouse?
So far, we have reviewed the information and evidence from Clubhouse. But the central part of the story is in a place that isn’t so easily visible. The main question about the Clubhouse is what exactly happens inside this startup? Who monitors user dialogs? Who will have the data and information collected by Clubhouse? How is Privacy and security in the Clubhouse?
Clubhouse records your voice.
In the Clubhouse, everything happens live. It is precisely the difference between the Clubhouse and a podcast. It isn’t possible to save or stop conversations in the Clubhouse. It means that if you aren’t in a conversation right away, you will lose people’s conversations. Not saving conversations is a good feature of Clubhouse, but note that all conversations are stored on Clubhouse servers.
The Clubhouse has announced that it records all conversations in this application and even private conversations. See the following text from the Clubhouse privacy and security page:
“To support incident investigations, we record the voice in the room while it is live. Suppose a user reports a violation while the room is active. We retain the voice to investigate the incident, when investigation is complete, delete it. If no incident is reported, when the room ends, we delete the temporary voice recording.”
This section of the Clubhouse’s Privacy and security page states that Clubhouse conversations are stored to investigate possible incidents. It is further noted that if a user reports a violation, Clubhouse will use these recorded sounds to investigate the breach. If there is no violation, the recorded sounds will be deleted.
There are several unanswered questions in this section that have been easily overlooked. The most important question is, what is considered a violation? Do political views include these? For example, if someone has a political objection, they can be prosecuted by the judiciary. The description on this page also doesn’t mention who can listen to the conversations and under what circumstances.
Information that others share about you can’t be deleted
Clubhouse listens to your conversations (even private conversations) and saves them. However, it isn’t the worst part of the Privacy and security in the Clubhouse breach. There are still many cases of privacy violations in the Clubhouse. One of the big problems with Clubhouse is that you may not have used the app at all, but your information is there.
To invite people to the Clubhouse, you must provide all your mobile phone contacts to this application. By doing this, Clubhouse creates a secret account or “shadow profile” for each person present in your audience list. That way, even if you haven’t heard of Clubhouse, there may be information about you on this social media.
This collection of information isn’t limited to your contact list. “If you create your account and use other services such as Twitter for authentication, we collect and store that account information, such as your list of friends or followers,” the club said on its Privacy and security page.
Clubhouse access goes so far as to update user information constantly. It means that even if you follow a new person on Twitter after authentication with Twitter, this person’s details will be provided to Clubhouse.
The story becomes interesting when if your information is inadvertently entered in the Clubhouse, you can’t delete it. There is no ability to delete personal information in the Clubhouse. Whether this information has reached the Clubhouse through another user’s contact list or via a Twitter or Instagram connection, there is nothing you can do about it.
You can’t delete your account in Clubhouse.
As we said in the previous case, you can not remove your information from the Clubhouse in any way. Even if you have an account in this program, there is still no option to delete the account. In addition, there are no instructions or methods for deleting a Clubhouse account, and it is not even mentioned in the user guide. All primary and popular social networks can delete accounts.
Users have the right to remove their information from social networks and for any reason. However, Clubhouse doesn’t value the user and allows deleting accounts on this social network. If you ever want to delete your account from Clubhouse, you should send an email to support it at “support@alphaexplorationco.com” and pray that your email will be answered.
Even if you succeed in convincing the creators of Clubhouse to delete your account, your account will still not be deleted entirely. Your personal information and the information of friends and acquaintances will remain next to the contact list on the Clubhouse servers. The only thing that happens is that your information isn’t shown to others and is somehow hidden. So be aware that Clubhouse has left no escape for you.
They can share your information
One of the big questions about Clubhouse is how does it make money? The developers of this application are probably looking for some advertising system or financial support. However, Clubhouse has made it very clear that it provides information to its users to affiliated companies and institutions.
The Clubhouse is working with various companies now and in the future to earn money and prepare advertising contracts. This social network reserves the right to share your information with these companies. The story doesn’t end there. Clubhouse clearly says “without further notice to you,” meaning that personal data is removed from Clubhouse without the user’s knowledge and shared with other companies.
Clubhouse tracks you
The social network clearly states on its Privacy and security in the Clubhouse that it uses various technologies such as cookies, pixels, and tracking technologies to monitor user activity in the Clubhouse and around the web. Clubhouse, meanwhile, does not yet have a specific advertising program or method.
Various sites and services like Google do this. Of course, Google is a well-known and large company, and we are comfortable with the security of the information collected. On the other hand, Google collects our information to display ads and increase the quality of its services.
The main problem with Clubhouse is the purpose of this data collection program and how it provides security? In any case, the Clubhouse is preparing the necessary infrastructure for monetization. It isn’t strange, but the main problem is the lack of transparency in information sharing.
There is a section called “SHARING AND DISCLOSURE OF PERSONAL DATA” on the club’s privacy page. In this section, the cases of users sharing personal information are given. It is mentioned in this section that the personal information of all users is provided to the partner companies of Clubhouse, and these companies have enough access to process or store users’ information.
The future of Privacy and security in the Clubhouse!
The future of the Clubhouse platform is in a haze. This app is still in its infancy. The Clubhouse, like Instagram, may become one of the main actors in social networks. Maybe, like Snapchat, it will gradually disappear from the playing field. Some people believe that the Clubhouse is a new tick. Whatever it should define Privacy and security in the Clubhouse at the beginning of its work.
The Clubhouse, like TikTak, doesn’t set boundaries for Privacy and security. Of course, TikTak, after several international trials around the world, finally had to impose stricter rules on the Privacy and security of individuals, especially teenagers. The problems and dangers of the Clubhouse aren’t limited to what we have said in this article. Since this application isn’t yet available to everyone, experts have not had a comprehensive review.
So far, however, it has been a disaster for Privacy and security in the Clubhouse. In February 2021, Germany’s most significant consumer protection organization, the Federation of German Consumer Organizations (vzbv), sued the Clubhouse developer Alpha Exploration Co. for “illegal trade-in information and breaches of data protection.”
Conclusion
Finally, if the Clubhouse tempts you and you want to get into it, make sure everything it says is recorded. Clubhouse practically shows us that Privacy and security in the Clubhouse on the Internet don’t make sense and that the main target of startups isn’t users. Instead, users are just a bridge that brings capital and money. In the meantime, user privacy is the least valuable. Share your thoughts on Privacy and security in the Clubhouse with Pinclubhouse.
FAQs
Why is everyone talking about Clubhouse?
The Clubhouse is a new social network based on sound. You can join different groups and talk to others privately.
Why should we be afraid of Clubhouse?
The main thing about the Clubhouse is precisely what happens inside the startup. Who monitors user dialogs? Who will have the data and information collected by Clubhouse? How is Clubhouse supposed to protect users’ Privacy and security? These are all questions that make us afraid of the Clubhouse.
How is the Privacy and security in the Clubhouse?
It is currently secure, but questions have been raised about the security and Privacy of the Clubhouse. These questions indicate that it doesn’t have complete Privacy and security in the Clubhouse.
