It is important to read the terms and conditions of any apps that you download to your smartphone or other electronic devices. Often in the fine print, you might be signing away your privacy rights and giving companies authority to collect your personal information and data for other purposes. 

Although legislation, such as Canada'a Antispam Legislation (CASL), contains provisions to protect consumers from how companies collect and use customer data and personal information, we often sign away our right to privacy without even knowing it. 

And unless there is public criticism of a company's practices, as was the case with Uber, we might not even know that your use of that app on your smartphone is being tracked and your personal information is being harvested by companies for other purposes. 

So before you download the newest and latest of apps for your smart phone, consider first what are the terms and conditions of the app and review your privacy settings to minimize the impact that using that app will have to your personal privacy.