Phones do not listen to you, but they can record what you're doing



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One of the many questions Mark Zakerberg and Facebook had to answer after publishing information about user data sharing with Cambridge Analytics was related to so-called smart phone tapping and spying.


Source: B92

In this context, Facebook is also mentioned. Namely, some users of this social network say that after talking about some products over the phone, Facebook soon began to show them advertisements of these products. They dismissed these claims of Facebook, convinced that they do not listen and do not spy on users (and that they have more than enough information to show advertisements shared by the users themselves).

However, researchers at Northwestern University have researched over 17,000 most popular apps for Android devices to see if these apps are listening to users or not.

Although they have not found any evidence of espionage and espionage (of course, there is always the possibility of espionage by a method that They could not disclose), the researchers nevertheless discovered some of the disturbing methods used by the appellants Gizmodo .

It turned out that some apps were recording screen shots from the device and sending them to third parties.

In one of these examples, they listed the GoPuff application, which recorded video and screen views while using the phone, and sent them to the company. AppSee analysis.

It is not uncommon for apps to collect and send data to analytics companies, which helps them improve their efficiency, but the problem is that GoPuff's usage and privacy policies Did not exist.

Scientists think it's a big problem because it shows how easy it is to record what people are doing on their phones. In this way, at least in theory, applications could record videos and photos of private messages and enter passwords, Zimo reports.

Users could unknowingly be able to transfer their sensitive and important information, which could be used for many frauds, attacks, theft of personal data, bank accounts, etc.

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