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Fitness App Runkeeper Secretly Tracks Users At All Times, Sends Data to Advertisers (androidauthority.com)
An anonymous reader writes: FitnessKeeper, the company behind running app Runkeeper, is in hot water in Europe. The company has received a formal complaint from the Norwegian Consumer Council for breaching European data protection laws. But why? Runkeeper tracks its users' location at all times -- not just when the app is active -- and sends that data to advertisers. The NCC, a consumer rights watchdog, is conducting an investigation into 20 apps' terms and conditions to see if the apps do what their permissions say they do and to monitor data flows. Tinder has already been reported to the Norwegian data protection authority for similar breaches of privacy laws. The NCC's investigation into Runkeeper discovered that user location data is tracked around the clock and gets transmitted to a third party advertiser in the U.S. called Kiip.me.Finn Myrstad, the council's digital policy director, said: We checked the apps technically, to see the data flows and to see if the apps actually do what they say they do. Everyone understands that Runkeeper tracks users while they exercise, but to continue after the training has ended is not okay. Not only is it a breach of privacy laws, we are also convinced that users do not want to be tracked in this way, or for information to be shared with third party advertisers.
You sure can.
First, you must calculate how much bandwidth they used at times that you weren't expecting it to be using bandwidth. Be precise. Its likely in the low MB.
Next, look at your recent phone bills, and document your actual overages. (If you weren't actually over, what are you suing for?)
And calculate (show your work) what portion of that overage is attributable to the app running when it wasn't supposed to be. Hope you didn't have a 2GB overage streaming movies because the 2MB contribution of the app to your overage is then only about 1% the 20$ you spent on overages. (or 20 cents)
Next, document what steps you took to minimize the harm. (If you've had data cap overages for the last 3 years and you are only doing something about it now, the judge will disallow most of your claim as you have an obligation to minimize harm. So you'll need to show that you took reasonable steps to monitor and control your data use and manage overages.)
Finally, file your lawsuit; attend the hearing; and then wait for your check for $2.27 in data overages that the court is likely to allow as directly attributable harm from the app for data use.
Assuming it allows anything at all.