A recent Wall Street Journal investigation revealed that certain Android and Iphone apps violated users’ privacy. By downloading apps such as: games, Pandora, TextPlus 4 (text messaging app) and many other apps, users were essentially sending basic information about themselves without their awareness or even consent. In fact, these phones are said to have the ability to transmit information including your name, gender, age, your device’s ID number and many more data to a number of online tracking companies and ad firms as well. While Apple claimed that it does not transmit information about its users nor does it obtain any information about them without their consent, the investigation tested a number of apps and found out that it is not true; certain apps where revealing the location of users without asking permission.
This article has left me in awe. I had never taken into consideration the possibility of collecting information about me just from the apps that I download on my Iphone. It is unbelievable and scary how basic data including: location, gender, name and even a phone’s zip code could be transmitted so easily and in a matter of seconds to a number of ad companies. Not only does it invade one’s privacy but it also makes him/her an easy target for ad companies as well as the possibility of identity theft. In addition to that, I think that companies like Apple should ensure better privacy settings for their users to make sure that they are protected against these kinds of issues. After reading this article, I became more aware of what actually could happen when I download certain apps and now I will think twice before downloading any.
Here’s the link to the article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704694004576020083703574602.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_Below_Video#articleTabs%3Darticle
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