Popular App Weather Forecast Collects Too Much User Data and is Attempting To Subscribe Some Users To Paid Services Without Permission (wsj.com)

Posted by msmash on Wednesday January 2, 2019 @02:00AM from the privacy-woes dept.

A popular weather app built by a Chinese tech conglomerate has been collecting an unusual amount of data from smartphones around the world and attempting to subscribe some users to paid services without permission, according to a London-based security firm's research. From a report: The free app, one of the world's most-downloaded weather apps in Google's Play store, is from TCL Communication Technology Holdings, of Shenzhen, China. TCL makes Alcatel- and BlackBerry -branded phones, while a sister company makes televisions. The app, called "Weather Forecast --World Weather Accurate Radar," collects data including smartphone users' geographic locations, email addresses and unique 15-digit International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers on TCL servers in China, according to Upstream Systems, the mobile commerce and security firm that found the activity. Until last month, the app was known as "Weather -- Simple weather forecast."

The weather app also has attempted to surreptitiously subscribe more than 100,000 users of its low-cost Alcatel smartphones in countries such as Brazil, Malaysia and Nigeria to paid virtual-reality services, according to Upstream Systems. The security firm, which discovered the activity as part of its work for mobile operators, said users would have been billed more than $1.5 million had it not blocked the attempts.

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Re:Open weather network ? by Nidi62 · 2019-01-02 02:18 · Score: 5, Funny

so whats the best open weather data network ?
I'm not after predictions, just data
A window?

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The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Re:Open weather network ? by Anonymous Coward · 2019-01-02 02:27 · Score: 3, Informative

OpenWeatherMap's free public API is quite enough. That's what the FOSS apps seem to use.
App by cascadingstylesheet · 2019-01-02 04:09 · Score: 2

So we can't trust China with a weather app, but nuclear reactors and AI are cool?
Re:Open weather network ? by Calydor · 2019-01-02 04:31 · Score: 2, Funny

You missed such a perfect chance to simply reply 'Windows' instead of 'A window'.

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Spying? You don't say by Robert+Goatse · 2019-01-02 07:24 · Score: 2

"A popular weather app built by a Chinese tech conglomerate..." Say no more.
Subscribing to paid accounts without permission? by mccrew · 2019-01-02 08:23 · Score: 2

It's also known as the "Wells Fargo App."

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Hey, Windows users, there is no such thing as "forward" slash, there is only slash and backslash.