By Jack West, PhD Student in Computer Science, University of Wisconsin-Madison

You wake up in the morning and, first thing, you open your weather app. You close that pesky ad that opens first and check the forecast. You like your weather app, which shows hourly weather forecasts for your location. And the app is free.

But do you know why it is free? Look at the app’s privacy settings. You help keep it free by allowing it to collect your information, including:

What devices you use and their IP and Media Access Control addresses.

Information you provide when signing up, such as your name, email address, and home address.

App settings, such as whether you choose Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Your interactions with the app, including what content you view and what ads you click.

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