By Joshua Grech
THE two most popular smartphone platforms are leaking personal information about users.
And Apple’s iPhone – despite the company heavily vetting each application in its Apps Store – gives away more details than its rival, Google-owned Android.
Of 101 apps surveyed on both platforms, 56 sent the phone’s Unique Device ID or digital fingerprint, without the user’s knowledge, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Forty-seven revealed a person’s location to advertisers and five apps sent age, gender and other personal details to outsiders.
Both tech giants have rules that make it mandatory for apps to ask permission before transmitting data such as location.
“We have created strong privacy protections for our customers, especially regarding location-based data,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr said.
Data miners, who build profiles of people’s online histories and sell these to ad agencies, are turning their attention to the mobile industry. App builders are under pressure to deliver rich data sets and privacy rules are being skirted.
Colin Jacobs, chairman of civil liberties advocacy organisation Electronic Frontiers Australia, said it was inevitable there would be less privacy in the future.
“Information transfer is cheap and ubiquitous, and we get too many benefits from sharing for this not to be the case, but the downside is that we will lose some control over the information and have to become resigned to leaving a digital footprint that others can follow,” he said.
From:Herald Sun
