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Dolphin, a 3rd Party Android Browser, Relayed URL Data

Posted by Soulskill on from the question-of-intent dept.

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from AndroidPolice.com: "As it turns out, Dolphin HD, one of the top browsers the Android platform has to offer, sends pretty much every web page URL you visit, including those that start with https, to a remote server en.mywebzines.com, which belongs to the company. In fact, the WebZines feature was introduced only recently back in June with version 6.0, so it's safe to say this tracking started around the same time.'" The Dolphin team quickly responded with a blog post saying they did not store any of the data, and no browsing information was captured about users. They also rolled out a new version of the browser, 7.0.2, which fixed the issue.

9 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. Meaning... by Pharmboy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    When they say "fix", does that mean it doesn't send the info, or their sending of info is harder to trace?

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  2. When Google does it, it's OK, when Dolphin does it by impaledsunset · · Score: 5, Insightful

    is bad?

    How is that? Chrome already sends any URLs visited and anything you typed in the address bar to Google. The former is done to make a lookup in the database of malicious URLs (where other browsers such as Iceweasel store the database locally), the latter is done for the uses of Google Suggest.

  3. "Fixes" the issue? by Elyjah · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "They also rolled out a new version of the browser, 7.0.2, which fixed the issue."

    The word "fix" makes it sound like it was an unintentional error. The problem wasn't that the browser "accidentally" sent the data. The problem was that the company thought this would be okay in the first place. The real "fix" needed is ridding the company of the people who thought this was a good idea.

    1. Re:"Fixes" the issue? by Raenex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The real fix is uninstalling this app because they abused your trust.

  4. Re:When Google does it, it's OK, when Dolphin does by SharkLaser · · Score: 5, Insightful

    But Google IS NOT upfront about that, and it doesn't even ask if they are allowed to do so. It's enabled by default and without telling the user about it.

  5. Re:Until there's a firewall... by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Yeah and that other browser might turn out to be a scammer, spammer or fraud who took someone else's work and loaded it with spyware too. Who knew that when Android users said that Android is going to be the "Windows" of smartphones that's what they meant: shitty interfaces, spyware and crap software.

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  6. Re:people don't pay attention to privacy by icebraining · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's a browser, so it's kinda hard to doubt it needs Internet access. How exactly are users supposed to know?

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  7. Re:One more proof walled garden is better by bonch · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Are you seriously suggesting that Slashdot has a pro-Apple, anti-Android bias? Do we visit the same Slashdot?

    To ignore the malware problem on Android is to deny a genuine negative aspect of the platform that needs to be talked about, regardless of how you feel about Apple products.

  8. Re:I'm starting to wonder why people care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So because others walk all over yourself you should let anyone walk all over yourself every day. What kind of stupid justification is that ?