I will try to set it up on a unused Raspberry Pi which I never really used for anything, but I am in the middle of rebuilding my apartment, so I guess it will take some time.
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Dozens of iPhone Apps 'Constantly' Sending Location Data to Data Monetization Firms
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I will try to set it up on a unused Raspberry Pi which I never really used for anything, but I am in the middle of rebuilding my apartment, so I guess it will take some time.
If you get stuck, don’t hesitate to reach out to me and I’ll help out.
So if you have location services for an app set to "while using" and you launch the app to check something, then go on with your normal stuff and leave that app going in the background, is it still monitoring your location or only when the app is in the foreground? Few people kill every app when they're done with it, instead wind up with dozens of stale apps in the background that you used days ago. Have they been tracking me the whole time?
But macrumors forum members told me this was impossible inside Apple’s walled garden, where everything is vetted. Strange how the usual privacy advocates on here that chastise other platforms for the same thing are now in full defend mode. Such hypocrisy.
No it’s not fake at all. This is simply 3rd party apps selling your location and there really is nothing that can be done about it. There are apps that need to get your location so it’s up to the app to not do this.
That said. Apps have to make money somehow because apps are expensive. As a developer I have been approached several times to do this with my apps and the money is very enticing but it’s agaisnt me morally and I don’t need to sell my users info to make money.
This is not the only info apps sell to make money and for anyone curious developers can make over $1000 a month selling the location of as few as 10,000 active users a month.
I don’t think I’m naive but I really do think Apple has done a lot to protect user privacy. I don’t know that the policy has changed. It might just be that Apple isn’t doing enough to monitor apps. Then again, people will complain if they are too strict or if they take too long to approve apps. There is a balance that has to be struck.
I also use pi-hole but have never added a blacklist other than the one(s) they provide, do you find these additions add a significant number of sites or are they mostly duplicates? Have any of the added sites shown up on your most blocked list?
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Oh my, yes!
Take a look at those links and see the different categories of stuff you can block with them. Malware, porn, tracking, telemetry, ads, cryptomining etc...
Yes, some stuff in these extra lists show up in my top blocked list and they're usually Google trackers and Microsoft trackers/telemetry from Windows 10 (on the rare occasions I turn the PC on). It's actually quite astounding that after a few hours of my Windows PC turned on, that it breaks into my top blocked list on Pi-Hole.
It's just an available option for someone to consider, if that's not their shtick.
Surprised that the top players in the advertising location space aren’t mentioned. Placed, placeIQ, Factual, and npi/ninth decimal. To give an idea of how this data is used, using one client with physical locations as an example, we define the locations then when anyone who has any of a myriad of apps installs goes to the store the vendor captures the idfa or aaid and uploads it to our ad server daily. Then we can see how many people who were exposed to our campaigns went to a store
not all apps offer the option to turn location data on "while using app only". That should have been a default by apple and includes the big giants that pays them off like google and facebook. I'm sure all their apps are basically spyware in disguise.
Also, doesn't ios remind you that an app is still using your location after a while and ask if you still want to allow it permission? it sure did when I was playing GPS based game like pokemon go. weird how other apps doesn't trigger this warning. almost as if they paid apple off or something
Also, doesn't ios remind you that an app is still using your location after a while and ask if you still want to allow it permission? it sure did when I was playing GPS based game like pokemon go. weird how other apps doesn't trigger this warning. almost as if they paid apple off or something
They probably don’t capture it continuously which is what triggers the warning but rather poll location occasionally
I have a well-known weather app that in a previous update tried to have the location settings “Off” and “Always” as the only settings available. They received lots of one star reviews including mine till they returned the “While Using” option. I don’t see a reason for any app to know my location all the time.
Because Tim said the customer was not the product and that's why iOS is so much better than Android
Next myth up to bust: turns out iOS RAM management isn't so magical that it can outperform Android phones with 8 times as much RAM as standard and Apple was just price gouging all along
iOS will ask you again at some point in the future after you give an app "Always" location access, whether you really intended to do that.
I like that feature; it keeps someone from accidentally saying "Always" when they didn't really mean it, and giving you one more chance to know the app is tracking your location. As far as I know this second warning only appears once, and then that's it, "Always" it is, forever.
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At some point iOS was changed so that "While Using" is always an option. Apps that have not been modified to officially support "While using" will cause iOS to show a blue banner stating they are using your location in the background. Waze is the only app I use which is still an offender here; I've reported the issue multiple times and they've not acknowledged my bug reports.
Why would u think that. All apps want money and can track you. They can probably do it even if you click don’t allow tracking
It's not just location data 3rd party apps have been mining contacts etc for years. Only last June did Apple request/recommend developers to restrict this to essential information requests only. Who knows when and how some developers can receive stats and info back from their apps once you have granted permissions active or otherwise.
Apple do it, some forget that Apple is a 3rd party on Android and they even they request access to contacts for Apple Music
Dozens of popular iPhone apps are sharing the location data of millions of mobile devices with third-party data monetization firms, according to a group of security researchers called GuardianApp (via TechCrunch).
The apps in question are mostly news, weather, and fitness apps that require access to location data to work properly, but then share that data to earn money.
According to security researchers, the apps send both precise location and other sensitive customer data to data monetization companies "at all times, constantly" sometimes without customers being aware of the location data collection. The information is used for purposes like creating databases for ad targeting.
Researchers used tools to monitor network traffic to discover apps collecting Bluetooth LE data, GPS longitude and latitude, WiFi SSIDs, accelerometer information, battery charge percentage, location arrival/departure timestamps, and more.
While the apps say that personally identifiable information is not included in the data collection, one of the researchers, Will Strafach, told TechCrunch that latitude and longitude coordinates can provide information on a person's home or work. Many customers who agree to provide apps with location data may not be aware of the extent of the information being collected and shared.
Apps that were found to be collecting location info and sending it to data monetization firms include ASKfm, NOAA Weather Radar, Homes.com, Perfect365, C25K 5K Trainer, Classifieds 2.0 Marketplace, GasBuddy, Photobucket, Roadtrippers, Tapatalk, and more, with a full list available on the site.
The data is being sent to companies that include Reveal, Sense360, Cuebiq, Teemo, Mobiquity, and Fysical. These companies denied wrongdoing, suggested customers were able to opt out at any time, and said that developers are required to inform customers about the data collection.
Some of the apps in question do indeed have clear data collection notices when opening them up for the first time, but data monetization firms do not make sure apps are following disclosure policies and not all do.iPhone users who want to avoid having their location data shared with data monetization firms should be wary of the third-party apps they install that are using location services. Limiting ad tracking in Privacy settings by going to Privacy > Advertising is recommended.
GuardianApp also suggests users use a generic name for router SSIDs and turn off Bluetooth functionality when Bluetooth is not in use.
Article Link: Dozens of iPhone Apps 'Constantly' Sending Location Data to Data Monetization Firms
I wonder how much they were making for each users data.
they definitely do
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They do. I’m telling you guys. Watch that documentary I linked. It will blow your mind. Everything is logged and tracked. Even keystrokes. Encrypted data? They save it until the encryption can be broken.
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They do. I’m telling you guys. Watch that documentary I linked. It will blow your mind. Everything is logged and tracked. Even keystrokes. Encrypted data? They save it until the encryption can be broken.
This is why I never allow apps to use my location unless absolutely necessary and I trust them. I pay a subscription for my weather and radar apps so if I find out they are inappropriately using my location data then things are not going to go well for them.
Also not surprised that Tapatalk is involved. They have to be one of the most obnoxious companies around.
Perhaps Apple needs to provide something like they did with push notifications but for location data. From how I understand it when we setup APN with the app I designed, our server would send out a notification to Apple’s server with the anonymized user ID keys. Then Apple sends the alert down to individual devices.
Couldn’t the same be done with Core Location API but in reverse? A device could send up its location to Apple, where the anonymized info is sent to the company to retrieve relevant information. Maybe Apple could further limit what is being shared through this layer? It could possibly introduce latency issues, which is not ideal for location information, but when using a navigation app, perhaps the app itself could be handed location data in a sandboxed way where that info can’t be sent to a server? Only certain requests to get directions could be sent the anonymized start location to a server, and any other data could be sent apart from that, as well as real-time location tracking with the dot on the map handled locally only with no feedback to the server until someone sends a new request? Surely there is a way that Apple can lock this down more. Even if a company had a list of locations that they could map to a starting point, they couldn’t match that to other data points on the device which could make it far less lucrative.
Also not surprised that Tapatalk is involved. They have to be one of the most obnoxious companies around.
Perhaps Apple needs to provide something like they did with push notifications but for location data. From how I understand it when we setup APN with the app I designed, our server would send out a notification to Apple’s server with the anonymized user ID keys. Then Apple sends the alert down to individual devices.
Couldn’t the same be done with Core Location API but in reverse? A device could send up its location to Apple, where the anonymized info is sent to the company to retrieve relevant information. Maybe Apple could further limit what is being shared through this layer? It could possibly introduce latency issues, which is not ideal for location information, but when using a navigation app, perhaps the app itself could be handed location data in a sandboxed way where that info can’t be sent to a server? Only certain requests to get directions could be sent the anonymized start location to a server, and any other data could be sent apart from that, as well as real-time location tracking with the dot on the map handled locally only with no feedback to the server until someone sends a new request? Surely there is a way that Apple can lock this down more. Even if a company had a list of locations that they could map to a starting point, they couldn’t match that to other data points on the device which could make it far less lucrative.
Apple does not. The user agrees to share data in 'At all times', even when the app is not open. The user can always tap "Don't" allow.
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In our testing Chromebooks were the worst at 'constant contact', Kindles were pretty high up on the list as well.
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Typically $1US - $3US per user / per sale. A single user could be sold to several groups. The per user pricing varies quite a bit, I'm just pointing to an 'average' if one exists.
