These Apps Are Rampantly Stealing Your Info Without Permission [Privacy]

I admire Pandora. I actually couldn’t do without it. But i’ll do without its sending my demographic information, phone ID, and placement to eight trackers across six companies. And Pandora’s away from the worst offender, the WSJ shows us .

The Journal’s report lays bare much of what we already suspected, or outright knew but didn’t bother fascinated by: iOS and Android apps are having a field day along with your personal info. More than half of the 101 popular apps they tested sent your UDID to companies without your awareness or consent. Nearly as many sent your location, and a handful even sent along demographic info and other personal details to advertisers.

It’s a small sample size given the loads of thousands of apps accessible, but it surely’s hard to imagine that one of the most prominent names just happen to be probably the most aberrant. And the list of worst offenders also reads like a roll-call of prerequisites: Pandora. Angry Birds . Netflix. Shazam. Et tu, Yelp?

iOS apps shared more data than Android apps, frequently-somewhat surprising given the rigidity of the App Store approval process compared to Android’s looser environment. And there’s really nothing you could do to forestall it.

There’s something Apple and Google could do, though: create privacy policies. Make it abundantly clear to users what information apps are going to take, who they’re going to send it to. And in the event you’re feeling really generous this holiday season, give us of venture to opt out.

For the total chart-and to get educated about who’s spreading your info-head over to the Journal’s daming interactive graphic . Then start sending some angry emails. [ WSJ ]

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This post is tagged: demographic info, demographic information, holiday season, information phone, interactive graphic, privacy policies