Study Finds Most Google Play Apps are Covertly Tracking Users

[DooKey]

The Yale University Privacy Lab analyzed hundreds of apps and has found that 3 out of 4 Google Play apps contain at least one "tracker". Google needs to get their act together and make the companies that are tracking people fess up to what they are doing. Of course this would also mean big brother Google should probably do the same thing. I'm not going to hold my breath. You can read the Yale press release here.

Among the apps found to be using some sort of tracking plugin were some of the most popular apps on the Google Play Store, including Tinder, Spotify, Uber and OKCupid. All four apps use a service owned by Google, called Crashlytics, that primarily tracks app crash reports, but can also provide the ability to “get insight into your users, what they’re doing, and inject live social content to delight them”.

 

[tunatime]

The Yale University Privacy Lab analyzed hundreds of apps and has found that 3 out of 4 Google Play apps contain at least one "tracker". Google needs to get their act together and make the companies that are tracking people fess up to what they are doing. Of course this would also mean big brother Google should probably do the same thing. I'm not going to hold my breath. You can read the Yale press release here.

Among the apps found to be using some sort of tracking plugin were some of the most popular apps on the Google Play Store, including Tinder, Spotify, Uber and OKCupid. All four apps use a service owned by Google, called Crashlytics, that primarily tracks app crash reports, but can also provide the ability to “get insight into your users, what they’re doing, and inject live social content to delight them”.

Well hell at least let other users of the dating sites see where you are to make it easier to stalk people...

 

[PaulP]

I'm not delighted.

 

[Twisted Kidney]

 

[steakman1971]

I don't trust apps and don't like using many of them. I work in the app development space so this is ironic...
Can't tell you how many shady customers I've spoken with. Honestly, we haven't really done anything shady and usually advise customers against (or tell them its impossible.) There is no regulation, really no testing, and the cost to admission to make an app can be relatively low (of course this depends on what you are doing).

 

[Stimpy88]

But Android is the best ever! Fucking Apple, selling secure devices...

But no denying that Google and Facebook have turned in to cancer.

 

[lostin3d]

At this point anyone who believes that any of the giants aren't tracking are fooling themselves. Regardless of what a company says there's usually some loophole in their language or actions that incorporates telemetry or tracking. I'm not happy about it either but I gave up on this years ago. With some skills we can disable a lot of these kinds of things but it often will break something in the process.