Smartphone Apps collect GPS data!

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Scary Smart Phones!

 

Dozens of smartphone apps collect so much location data that their publishers can plot users' comings and goings in detail, a forthcoming peer-reviewed study found. Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University concluded that a dozen or so popular Android apps collected device location GPS coordinates accurate to within 50 metres an average 6,200 times, or roughly every three minutes, per participant over a two-week study period.

 

The researchers recruited 23 users of Android version 4.3. Participants were allowed to use their own choice of apps after installing software that noted app requests for a variety of personal information; not only location but also contacts, call logs, calendar entries, and camera output. Even apps that provided useful location-based services often requested the device's location far more frequently than would be necessary to provide that service, the researchers said. (Wall Street Journal)

 

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/03/23/where-were-you-3-minutes-ago-your-apps-know/?mod=WSJBlog&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wsj%2Fbiztech%2Ffeed+%28WSJ.com%3A+Business+Technology%29