Question Do I enjoy more privacy by using a desktop PC ?

[brannsiu]

First of all, I am not a tech geek at all but I am often concerned about privacy. When most people will just ignore terms and conditions and click "Yes" to proceed, I almost always read every detail or postpone until I have time to read them.
I only get to know recently that a lot of mobile apps could be actually requesting for users' location or accessing their photo albums in the background for all kinds of reasons they claim, e.g. improving performance or overall experience. No matter how they actually use my data and information, fact is my data and information should have been copied to their server side, even if they are deleted the next second.

I don't have any knowledge that supports my feeling, but I feel that when I use a computer, a desktop computer, windows, and I access the same site or service with Firefox, Chrome or Opera, chances are only my IP, and thus my approximate location (e.g. which city I am in, rather than the street number) and what version of my broswer is or my hardware configuration (which is not identifying ), are seen from the server side. Any picture or file I store on my local hard drive or portable drive could never, ever be sent or scanned by the server side.

Is what I think true?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Nope! Not in the least.

Whether you read the terms and conditions or not, you have no idea what has been programmed into the "Yes" button. Clicking it may mean, "Yes, I give you full admin permissions to install whatever you want onto my PC and access any file or device."

...or it may just mean that you agree to the terms and conditions of the web site.

-Wolf sends

 

[Math Geek]

You're going down a rabbit hole here. Are you sure you want to know?

Windows itself mines your data like crazy to sell. Google makes it money selling your data for ads. Your mic and webcam are turned on by browsers to monitor your activity including eye movement!!

List goes on and on. You can educate yourself on how to minimize the intrusions but it's not worth going paranoid over.

Tl/Dr: you have zero privacy on mobile or PC. Might be different methods but in the end you are nothing but a thing to sell ads to

 

[Ralston18]

And even if "they" say/promise/guarantee, etc. that your data will not be sold - your data can still be traded....

 

[USAFRet]

If you have a cellphone, Microsoft and Windows are the least of your problems.

 

[hotaru.hino]

You might enjoy more control than say a phone, tablet, or otherwise, but what you still put on there may not respect what you want.

And even then, the rabbit hole of paranoia can go deep: how do you know the firmware inside of the components of your computer aren't doing anything nefarious? How do you know your router isn't doing anything nefarious? etc.