harvest or harvesting

What is data harvesting? Similar to the traditional definition of gathering crops off the fields, data harvesting in the online world refers to gathering user information (by way of email addresses, IM handles, social media sites, surfing behaviors, online ads clicked on, etc.) from the Internet. Data harvesting is the leading method spammers use to acquire new addresses.

Historical perspective: In March, 2018 The New York Times reported that 50 million Facebook users had their profile information harvested by a Trump-connected data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica via a personality app on the site, later prompting a #DeleteFacebook movement.

To see what’s connected to your Facebook account, login to Facebook and go to your Settings. From there, check the Active tab under the Apps and Websites. The panel will show you all the apps that have access to your Facebook account.

To see what’s connected to your Google account, go to myaccount.google.com and from there, go to Apps with account access under the Sign-in & security. The next page will show you all the apps that have access to your Google account as well as all the sites you have saved passwords for using Google Smart Lock.