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Some of the most popular apps for Android smartphones, including Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and MyFitnessPal, transmit data to Facebook without the consent of the user, which could violate the privacy rules of the Union European.
A privacy activist, Privacy International, has discovered that at least 20 of them send some data to Facebook as soon as they open on a mobile phone before the consent of the # 39, user is not asked.
Information submitted instantly includes the name of the application, the unique identity of the user on Google and the number of times that the application has been opened and closed since the download .
Some of them, such as the Kayak Travel website, then send detailed information about people's searches on Facebook, including travel dates, if the user has children and what flights and which destinations were searched.
The European data sharing law changed in May 2018 with the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and mobile applications now have to request the explicit consent of users before collect data.
Investigators studied applications containing trackers. [rastreadores]
Fines for breach of GDPR can reach 4% of the business' s business turnover, with a maximum of 20 million euros. ] of Facebook, which intercepts data in the submission. Many applications are free, which suggests that they earn money by sharing data and selling advertising.
Frederike Kaltheuner, the principal investigator, added that, while the responsibility for complying with the regulations lies with the developers of the applications, the kit from the American development company does not offer the possibility to wait for the permission of the developers. user before transmitting certain types of data.
"At least four weeks after the GDPR came into effect, it was not even possible to ask for consent because of Facebook's standard SDK [kit de desenvolvimento de software] scheme, which means that data is automatically shared when "Application opens."
A number of app developers have complained about this to Facebook since May, reporting bugs on the Facebook platform aimed at developers and stating that & ### They did it. prevented from complying with the law.
A few weeks and several complaints later, Facebook responded by saying that they had found a solution, but that developers should download an update to be able to use it. But developers continue to report bugs and we do not know if the solution works.
"Six months after the release of the refusal, we see very little evidence of its implementation." Of all the applications we tested, 67.7% automatically transmitted data to Facebook when it was released. "
A Facebook spokesman said that application developers were disabling automatic data collection and in 2018, the company introduced a new option allowing developers to delay the time of collection of data. data for badysis.
Another major concern is the re-badociation of supposedly anonymous data.
Facebook can badociate the identity of a user on Android to his profile on social networks, by instantly identifying him and adding additional information to his personal profile.
Facebook you can also use the data to identify more than one person – for example, a couple who uses applications on the same Wi-Fi network or at the same place can have his ID
Previous searches from Oxford University showed that 43% of the free apps offered in the Google Play store were transmitting data to Facebook, thus making the social network the second largest carrier of crawlers in the Google Play store.
TripAdvisor, Kayak and MyFitnessPal made no statement.
A Skyscanner spokesperson stated that he was not aware that data was being transmitted to Facebook without the prior consent of users.
Translation by Paulo Migliacci
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