What are your apps hiding?
http://news.mit.edu/2015/data-transferred-android-apps-hiding-1119
MIT researchers have found that much of the data transferred to
and from the 500 most popular free applications for Google
Android cellphones make little or no difference to the user's
experience. Of those "covert" communications, roughly half
appear to be initiated by standard Android analytics packages,
which report statistics on usage patterns and program
performance and are intended to help developers improve
applications. "The interesting part is that the other 50
percent cannot be attributed to analytics," says Julia Rubin, a
postdoc in MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence
Laboratory (CSAIL), who led the new study. "There might be a
very good reason for this covert communication. We are not
trying to say that it has to be eliminated. We're just saying
the user needs to be informed."
- - -
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Founder:
- Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org
- PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info
Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info
Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein
Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com
I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently doing so.
My opinions expressed here are mine alone.
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