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FTC Drops the Hammer On Maker of Location-Sharing Flashlight App

Posted by Soulskill on from the permissions-permissions-permissions dept.

chicksdaddy writes "The Federal Trade Commission announced on Thursday that it settled with the maker of 'Brightest Flashlight Free,' a popular Android mobile application, over charges that the company used deceptive advertising to collect location and device information from Android owners. The FTC says the company failed to disclose wanton harvesting and sharing of customers' locations and mobile device identities with third parties. Brightest Flashlight Free, which allows Android owners to use their phone as a flashlight, is a top download from Google Play, the main Android marketplace. Statistics from the site indicate that it has been downloaded more than one million times with an overall rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars. The application, which is available for free, displays mobile advertisements on the devices it is installed on. However, the device also harvested a wide range of data from Android phones which was shared with advertisers, including what the FTC describes as 'precise geolocation along with persistent device identifiers.' As part of the settlement with the FTC, Goldenshores is ordered to change its advertisements and in-app disclosures to make explicit any collection of geolocation information, how it is or may be used, the reason for collecting location information and which third parties that data is shared with."

2 of 187 comments (clear)

  1. Well now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    The government has a lot of balls pointing fingers like that...

    1. Re:Well now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      It seems that you have a problem understanding aristocracy. The government is the new aristocracy. We The People have let it happen by becoming big party shills. The last two administration have done everything short of opening concentration camps for undesirables and still we fuss more of Miley Cyrus and Paul Walker than we do over what our overlords have become.
       
      Give it about two more administrations... the powers that be will have us paying at least 50% more in tribute, health insurance will be government run which will make it more costly and less effective and the citizens will have access to nothing more powerful than a child slingshot while the police and military will become one and the same... and they'll have all kinds of nifty toys to beat you down with if you don't comply with their demands, lawful or not.
       
      Orwell couldn't have imagined something as totalitarian was what we'll be the victims of in the next two decades.