Android collects your information without your knowledge – ElSol.com.ar – Diario de Mendoza, Argentina

A survey conducted in Spain revealed that Android phones they control their owners without their knowledge and mbadively access their personal data via a large number of preinstalled applications that can hardly be removed from the equipment.

The results of the study titled "Analysis of preinstalled Android software", conducted by the Imdea Networks Institute and the Carlos III University of Madrid, were published Monday by the Spanish Agency of Protection data (AEPD) because of its "impact". mbadive "on the privacy of citizens", explains the entity in a note.

Almost all manufacturers have detected a type of preinstalled software that uses the user's privileged access to system resources to obtain personal data, the study says.

The researchers concluded that there is a complex system of developers and commercial agreements with pre-installed applications with licenses (which do not match those of Android) to provide access to their services without an average user being able to access them. uninstall.

The problem is that there is "no transparency" on the activity of applications that the user does not have the ability to uninstall and that are predetermined with the terminal, explained one of the authors of the research, Narseo Vallina-Rodríguez, from IMDEA Networks. .

According to the study, "a large number of actors" could directly obtain benefits by accessing this user data, for commercial purposes or by selling them at any time. other agents in exchange for money.

Among these, there are companies that go from manufacturers to operators, through social networks, multimedia companies, video games and antivirus, among others.

As soon as a user acquires a new phone, you only need to connect to the Internet for your device to start sharing personal information. The software delivered pre-installed on the mobile phone is configured so that it can know where the owner is, what is downloaded, what messages he sends and what music files it contains.