How is your personal data being harvested by our community apps?

01/16/2025 08:21 AM - Comment(s) - By Medley Members

These services are convenient, yes, but it's prudent to review the policies... [Tap to view]

Now that Medley property management has moved from ICON to Castle Group property management, they are using TownSquare website and app (TownSq) for our HOA community communications. As mentioned at the June 10 board meeting, be aware that TownSquare's privacy policy requires proactive opt-out of sharing personal information ("targeted marketing") for their partners' advertising purposes. You can decline here - https://opt-out.townsq.io by providing your email address.

UPDATE - the method by which we are receiving Castle's email announcements to click through to download the document requires us to OPT-IN again to the privacy policy (agreeing to targeted marketing) that we just opted out of! (The board and the newly formed IT Committee should investigate this.)

Also, did you know that the "Medley Southshore Bay" mobile app for the Clubhouse calendar and reservations tracks users' Precise Location on your iPhone with GPS accuracy. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/medley-southshore-bay/id6471011116

Is that necessary to function? (Probably not, since by logging in, the app already knows who's using it and their Android app doesn't enable it.) Fortunately, you can review and disable any app's Location use in your mobile iPhone's Settings > Privacy & Security > Location. https://support.apple.com/en-us/102647

Another example is Ring Doorbell's automatic 'opt in' enrollment in 'Amazon Sidewalk' that links your wifi (including Alexa) in a mesh network to all your neighbors' networks. In the words of one cybersecurity expert, "You are LITERALLY relying on your neighbor's IT skills protecting YOUR network from abuse. And tracking. And possible identity theft." Opt in/out here:

https://ring.com/support/articles/nzhv0/Turning-the-Amazon-Sidewalk-Feature-On-or-Off

Did you know that Spectrum TV picks your television ads based on your TV viewing habits? If that seems creepy to you too, just opt out of that and review their other 'sharing' by using their form here:

https://www.spectrum.com/policies/your-privacy-rights-opt-out (Be sure to pick 'Yes' as a current customer to see all the options.)

These are just a few examples of the 'gotchas' found in default technology polices.

For this reason, several of us at MedleyMembers.Net recommend that an IT security audit be performed on all personal data retention and sharing policies within the Medley community including website logins, mobile apps, security cameras, etc. to help ensure members' ongoing privacy and advise members of their opt in/out choices. A good start would be to require that all vendors to provide their "Information Security Policy" for the HOA's current and prospective contracts. (PS This shouldn't require expensive legal or tech consulting, as we have just demonstrated here.)

Please share this post with your neighbors and friends,

especially since they may be inadvertently sharing their wifi with others! (see Amazon Sidewalk above).

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