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Chrome Extensions, Android and iOS Apps Caught Collecting Browsing Data (bleepingcomputer.com)

Posted by msmash on from the privacy-woes dept.

Catalin Cimpanu, writing for Bleeping Computer: An investigation by AdGuard has revealed a common link between several Chrome and Firefox extensions and Android and iOS apps that were caught collecting highly personal user data through various shady tactics. The common link between all extensions and mobile apps is a company named Big Star Labs. AdGuard estimates these apps had been installed on around 11 million devices.

24 comments

  1. addres by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    So when we burn the building to the ground, which one is it?

    1. Re:addres by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      666 5th avenue

  2. they all look bogus or are ripoffs/stolen... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    stay with legit developers, folks. one thing i was dreading when firefox went webex was the deluge of bogus addons in the chrome store would make it into firefox's ecosystem. sure mozilla had a few, but fuck, man. chrome's extension 'store' is absolutely polluted with them.. and guess what? now, amo is getting invaded by them, too.

  3. Chrome & Android = Google. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who would have imagined that a browser or a mobile OS created by a company which generates revenue via selling gathered data would gather data on users ?

    Anyone with a reasonable amount of intelligence, that's who.

    What's next, a Slashdot article about how a hot stove burns your hand when you grab it ?

    1. Re:Chrome & Android = Google. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, so it was actually apps and browser add-ons, but seriously, who expects Android or Chrome to respect the user's privacy ?

      A company which has generating revenue by gathering data on users at the heart of its business plan should be expected not to guard the privacy of
      users.

    2. Re:Chrome & Android = Google. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too late bro. You couldn't even read the summary and now nobody respects your opinion. Idiot.

  4. Private browsing options: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Firefox in a VM on VPN
    2. TOR browser in a VM (Firefox IRL)
    3. TOR browser on an encrypted volume
    4. Public library with a fake ID
    5. Don't browse

  5. GDPR friendly link by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Or copying the names of the apps in the summary?

  6. WITCH HUNT! Only traitors believe their eyes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Haha, I get it - because that traitor faggot Jared tried to blackmail Qatar, lol. What a gimp. Hang the bitch traitor, and his feckless cunt traitor wife Trump Jr.

  7. Pretty much sums up the internet ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    that were caught collecting highly personal user data through various shady tactics

    This is more or less a neat summation of the state of the internet, and of smart devices ... the entire thing is being monetized by crooks and assholes.

    There's little point in differentiating between the types of crooks and assholes, the shady players and the blue-chip tech companies .. they're all crooks and assholes.

    They all want to turn your information into marketing data to make money off. They don't much care for your privacy, but they guard their own mightily and prejudicially.

    I've said it before .. but every company who deals in your private information without making it clear of exactly what they do .. every employee, their parents, their children, their grandchildren .. doxx the living shit out of them.

    Appropriate every bit of information about then, publish it, distribute it. Take away every place they have to hide. Banking, private emails, where their kids go to school .. all of it.

    These people make money off selling out private information. So let's strip them of their privacy, lay them bare, and the consequences be damned.

    Because that's exactly what they're doing to us.

    1. Re:Pretty much sums up the internet ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that were caught collecting highly personal user data through various shady tactics

      This is more or less a neat summation of the state of the internet, and of smart devices ... the entire thing is being monetized by crooks and assholes.

      There's little point in differentiating between the types of crooks and assholes, the shady players and the blue-chip tech companies .. they're all crooks and assholes.

      They all want to turn your information into marketing data to make money off. They don't much care for your privacy, but they guard their own mightily and prejudicially.

      I've said it before .. but every company who deals in your private information without making it clear of exactly what they do .. every employee, their parents, their children, their grandchildren .. doxx the living shit out of them.

      Appropriate every bit of information about then, publish it, distribute it. Take away every place they have to hide. Banking, private emails, where their kids go to school .. all of it.

      These people make money off selling out private information. So let's strip them of their privacy, lay them bare, and the consequences be damned.

      Because that's exactly what they're doing to us.

      No, they should be executed.

  8. APK Hosts File Engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    APK Hosts File Engine could have prevented data from being collected. APK is pretty much a security God, no matter how much you jealous bastards attack him. APK, when will you be releasing an Android version of your excellent software?

    1. Re:APK Hosts File Engine by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Putting "security" software atop Android is akin to spraying Glade after a crap. You get nothing more than perfumed crap. Android is, was, and forever shall be a sinkhole for privacy.

  9. Ad brands by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Like to do their ads. Reduce the amount of ad company products used.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  10. Social network by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Moi j'utilise le Forfait réseaux sociaux d'Africell pour accéder gratuitement via ce lien http://axtuces.com/forfait-reseaux-sociaux-africell-pour-acceder-tous-les-sites/ facilement.

  11. Treachery by Lavasoft AdAware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember them? Scanned your PC for nasty Adware? Their owner sold them to an Ad company. I found out when I noticed Adaware doing some very strange shit on my PC.
    https://zeldauniverse.net/forums/Thread/146950-Warning-about-Ad-Aware-it-s-bought-by-a-mal-ware-company-and-now-it-hijacks-bros/
    https://www.scmagazine.com/lavasofts-new-owners-operated-misleading-websites/article/559189/
    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/11/lavasoft_has_new_owners/
    http://www.majorgeeks.com/news/story/what_does_the_future_hold_for_ad_aware.html

    To the original owner of AdAware who built our trust: FUCK YOU CUNT!

    1. Re:Treachery by Lavasoft AdAware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sadly, people will do anything anymore for money. No one seems to have decent mores these days. I remember the Internet of the mid-90s. Far and away better AS AN EXPERIENCE. Yes, the content available was far less and varied, but the Internet had yet, as the money-grubbers would say "to be monetized".

      I remember being able to find anything I wanted or needed and did so using Netscape Navigator on a Linux box (Mandrake). Never had any issues. I used to work in a data center for a web hosting company just outside of DC. Those were the days. Pre-Google. Dcent enought search engines like AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, even Yahoo. My web mail provider gave me a whopping 10MB of space. Far simpler times.

  12. Are these rather obscure extensions? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I found it interesting that this Big Star Labs has no real physical address or point of origin. Even more troubling is both Google and Apple seem OK with this as well as Mozilla you know the company so concerned about our privacy.

    1. Re:Are these rather obscure extensions? by ls671 · · Score: 1

      Well they seemed concerned about privacy then, including the privacy of Big Star Labs!

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
  13. Headline bad, summary good by omnichad · · Score: 1

    Chrome Extensions, Android and iOS Apps Caught Collecting Browsing Data

    The headline is just nonsense. If Adguard wasn't collecting browsing data, how would they uncover this? The important thing, as in the summary, is the common link they uncovered.

    1. Re:Headline bad, summary good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      AFAIK, Adguard are collecting data on the Ads that would otherwise cover most of your devices screen. So yes, to some extent they are collecting your browing history but the question is, are they selling it on?

      If they aren't then fine.
      If they are then F**k You.

  14. Can we sue them? by Gravis+Zero · · Score: 1

    Yes we can! (Fat chance of winning though.)

    --
    Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
    1. Re: Can we sue them? by ape.8117 · · Score: 1

      I dont want no money I want u behind bars where u belong .. N I will win I promise I've been printing out every conversation n courtney lol phone michelle got help alot so fuck u i am a cunt n ur fixing to realize how big of a cunt I am... I fucking tried so hard not to let it get to this but fuck u

    2. Re: Can we sue them? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dont want no money I want u behind bars where u belong .. N I will win I promise I've been printing out every conversation n courtney lol phone michelle got help alot so fuck u i am a cunt n ur fixing to realize how big of a cunt I am... I fucking tried so hard not to let it get to this but fuck u

      Wow, the illiteracy and stupidity is strong in this one.

      Holy fuck, go back to Twitter.