AccuWeather Updates Its iOS App To Address Privacy Outcry (techcrunch.com)

Taylor Hatmaker, writing for TechCrunch: Responding to privacy concerns, AccuWeather is out with a new version of its iOS app that removes a controversial data sharing behavior. Earlier this week, security researcher Will Strafach called attention to the practice in a post and users took to Twitter to announce their intention to dump the app in droves. "AccuWeather's app employed a Software Development Kit (SDK) from a third party vendor (Reveal Mobile) that inadvertently allowed Wi-Fi router data to be transmitted to this third-party vendor," the company wrote in a statement accompanying the app update. "Once we became aware of this situation we took immediate action to verify the operation and quickly disabled the SDK from the IOS app. Our next step was to update the IOS app and remove Reveal Mobile completely."

Comments

Re:The part I don't get

[plover]

The part I don't get is why people use AccuWeather. The National Weather Service has extremely high quality forecasts right there on their web page, and if you visit http://mobile.weather.gov/ in your iOS device and tap "Share/Add To Home Screen", it's wrapped up behind an icon and "acts" like an app. As a plus, you've already paid for them with your taxes. And they have no privacy violating trackers on their page, not even a google analytics link.

Most importantly, you're not feeding some shitty company who has been trying to make the National Weather Service lock up our public weather data, and who bought and paid for a U.S. senator for exactly that purpose.