privacy - Android Community

Pandora is sending user GPS, gender, birthday and more to ad servers

By Cory Gunther
on 7 Apr, 2011

Looks like Pandora Radio for Android has been under fire as of late. If you guys didn't hear they were issued a Subpoena recently over a few different issues, mainly regarding privacy and user data. Apparently there has now been even more information revealed from our friends over at Ars Technica that might have you all even more worried.

With Recording, CNN stands by Google Facial Recognition App Story

By James DeRuvo
on 1 Apr, 2011

The latest chapter in the war of words between Google and CNN is being played out today on the web. As we reported here yesterday, CNN did a story that Google was working on a Mobile Facial Recognition App that would link personal data through real-time video footage from the camera on an Android Device to images stored on a user's Google Profiles pages. CNN went on to state that Google was holding back releasing the app because of privacy concerns. The story created a firestorm as Google has fired back completely denying such an app exists and that details of the story are a "are purely speculative and are inventions of the reporter.” Only trouble is, CNN has a recording of an interview with the Google engineer in charge and they're not backing down.

Google building Facial Recognition app to identify people by their face [False]

By Cory Gunther
on 31 Mar, 2011

*Update: See bottom It looks like Google is at it again with another innovative idea. According to the CNN piece on it, it seems some are worried about privacy issues regarding this app from the search and ad giant. Google apparently has a mobile app that is currently under way that will use facial recognition software to identify people by their faces. The kicker here that has them worried is the main function. You snap a photo of someones face and the app will use it to access their personal information. From email and phone number, to possibly even pictures and their address.

Words with Friends Sharing Personal Info

By James DeRuvo
on 8 Mar, 2011

A fan of the popular Android game app Words with Friends, got a peak into the kind of information is shared with advertisers after he had problems with the game crashing. Smackywolf over at Reddit Android discovered that the game sends the following information to advertisers: the users MEI, the build of the phone and it's make and model, brower details. Smackywolf believes that with that information, advertisers has access to his carrier, his unique browser ID, phone fingerprint, email address and possibly his phone number. And he's not happy about it.

Android Apps are sharing personal data without your consent says WSJ

By Shane McGlaun
on 20 Dec, 2010

The Wall Street Journal has conducted an investigation into the sort of data apps on your Android phone and on the iPhone collect and share about you. The WSJ looked at 101 popular smartphone apps on both the iPhone and Android devices and found that 56 of the apps transmitted unique device IDs to third party companies without the user's permission.

Study finds many Android apps transmit data to third parties

By Shane McGlaun
on 4 Oct, 2010

A study conducted and unveiled last week has found that Android apps transmit data that is private to third parties. The data is typically transferred to advertising services and include ten shared unique identifiers. The study was performed by researchers from Penn State and Duke Universities along with Intel Labs using a tool called TaintDroid.