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The original was posted on /r/privacyguides by /u/Ben-and-Friends on 2023-06-10 19:22:52+00:00.
Hey there!
I was recently looking into setting up a Wealthsimple account until I read the TOU and Privacy Policy. Not sure if I trust them with any information.
I found 4 sections that caused concern. 1 From the TOU and 3 from the Privacy Policy. They are as follows:
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(from Terms of Use) "We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to modify, alter or otherwise update these terms and conditions at any time and you agree to be bound by such modifications, alterations or updates."
Does this mean that they could technically change this agreement to say anything, without limitation? That's more than I'm willing to sign up for.
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(the following 3 points are from the Privacy Policy)
- We limit the use of your personal information.
- de-identifying your information by removing personal identifiers such as your name, address and account numbers. This information may be aggregated and anonymized so that it cannot be used to identify individuals, and then used for analytics and reporting, developing and improving our products and services, and identifying trends and insights that may be of value to us and our clients;
How anonymous is my data at this point? Do I need to worry about it being "re-identified" and used for something else?
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- We collect and use information about your visit to our website or use our apps.
- Analytics: We may use third parties, including Google Analytics, to help us gather and analyze information about the areas visited on the Websites in order to better understand, evaluate and improve the user experience and the convenience of the Websites.
Is only my activity on the regular website monitored by Google or is it all activity? If that's the case, would that mean Google is analyzing my trading of stocks, withdraws/deposits, what stocks I'm looking at, etc.?
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We use online advertising.
We may use third parties such as ad exchanges and data companies to serve our advertisements in the App, on our Websites or other websites. These companies may use cookies, tracer tags or web beacons to report certain information about your visits to our App, the Websites and other websites (such as web pages you visit and your response to ads) in order to measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and to deliver ads that are more relevant and tailored to you, both on and off our Websites.
Does this mean that 3rd party ad exchange companies are collecting information about me while I'm using the platform?
Trying to find a good stock brokerage that also values the privacy of it's users is an overwhelming task to say the least. If this clearly looks like a privacy nightmare, I could use some recommendations for privacy centered trading platforms (preferably something with no/low commission trades).
TL;DR Wealthsimple's TOU and Privacy Policy look concerning; Need help with discerning if it is private or recommendation for stock brokerages that are privacy focused.