Several Popular Apps Share Data With Facebook Without User Consent (ft.com)

Some of the most popular apps for Android smartphones, including Skyscanner, TripAdvisor and MyFitnessPal, are transmitting data to Facebook without the consent of users in a potential breach of EU regulations. From a report: In a study of 34 popular Android apps, the campaign group Privacy International found that at least 20 of them send certain data to Facebook the second that they are opened on a phone, before users can be asked for permission. Information sent instantly included the app's name, the user's unique ID with Google, and the number of times the app was opened and closed since being downloaded. Some, such as travel site Kayak, later sent detailed information about people's flight searches to Facebook, including travel dates, whether the user had children and which flights and destinations they had searched for. European law on data-sharing changed in May with the introduction of General Data Protection Regulation and mobile apps are required to have the explicit consent of users before collecting their personal information.

Comments

I doubt anyone really cares

[mschaffer]

Once people get over their knee-jerk sense of outrage (if there is any), I doubt anyone will even uninstall these apps from their phones.

Re:I doubt anyone really cares

[mrwireless]

Give it time. Over the years people will start to understand how the data driven business model really works. That profiling is not just about personalised ads, but equally about handling you as a risk, which often means denying you opportunities such as jobs or cheap insurance. The real businessmodel of these companies is the continuous background check.

In a few years the 'data is the new oil' narative will backfire on Silicon Valley, as the 'data as a pollutant' metaphor will become all to apt. This comparison will then lead us to ask: what is the data version of global warming?

It's Social Cooling.

Re:I doubt anyone really cares

[ctilsie242]

I have already this happen. A few years ago when I was working for a different employer, I had a friend of mine take a picture of me in a store's humidor. The pictures went on Facebook. Less than a week later, I got a demand from my health insurance company to take a physical with bloodwork or pay smoker's rates.

Already, location data from apps has been uses to spy on Tesla and other firms, tracking where employees are in the building. With tensions getting greater between nations, a person's location can potentially make or break a military initiative.

I can understand...

[Anonymous Coward]

the average person not understanding how this stuff works and the dangers therein, but anyone in IT should have declared Facebook, et al. pariahs long ago. I remember years ago when working as an IT security auditor thinking that I would never join "social media". Many people saw this coming, but people simply don't want to hear about it because it's "free". Everyone in IT understands it's not free. You (metaphorically) are paying for it. In more ways than one.

I value what little privacy is left over, and as an anecdote, I recently left Fastmail over the Access and Assistance bill. I was a paying customer, but no longer.

The Security Derangement Complex: Technology Companies And Australia’s Anti-Encryption Law

In the end, I think people will not be able to trust companies. 99% of people will never encrypt their missives or online content before storing them. That's crazy, despite not having anything to hide. That old chestnut people love to trot out saying, "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear.", is garbage. We all have things to hide or would prefer to remain under wraps.

I drive a grey car with no bumper stickers. I wear plain shirts. I don't advertise. I pay cash for booze and tobacco, buy certain things face to face, and generally don't put myself out there for the data miners. My browsing is all done as privately as I can make it. More and more companies are selling, unbeknownst to end users, their data to insurance companies, banks, credit companies, and various governments. We are entering an age where everything is going to be transparent. Those who use encryption that is not "backdoored" will stand out brightly. The cold war between clever end users and the powers that be is coming. VPN/VPS traffic is routinely being deep packet inspected (already a thing) in many places. They are not the panacea people think they are. You cannot trust what you do not control. The Australian AA Bill has really nailed this down for me, and as my only paid account save my ISP, I'm thinking about how to address this in a way that works for me going forward with the friends and family I do communicate with on a regular basis. I'm not paranoid, I just see the patterns being matched around the world with control closing in.

Re:The list...

[Mr. Dollar Ton]

Funny how I don't seem have any of these installed, or in my library. Maybe minimal app selection hygiene is important if one cares about privacy?

Worthless, paywalled source.

[Gojira Shipi-Taro]

Nothing good ever came from the Financial Times

Re:The list...

[JaredOfEuropa]

Nice. I use Spotify, Dropbox, Speedtest (useful to test WiFi in rental properties), Shazam... but on iOS. Do those apps running on iPhones also send data to FB?