Hundreds Of Android Apps Silently Track Users With Ultrasounds

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toadhammer

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Nov 2, 2012
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If you read the source research paper, it's clear they don't have a list of confirmed apps, just what their machine learning guessed might be doing it. If you search 'SilverPush', you'll see they claim '67 apps' were using their code and the FTC says they 'warned 12 unidentified Android app developers.' No one's willing to disclose actual apps due to the toxic privacy issues.

Lucian, if you're granting microphone permissions to your apps, location tracking may be the least invasive privacy problem you have since it can record anything it hears, not just audio beacons.
 

alextheblue

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For those who use modern smartplatforms extensively, some data is necessary for the operation of things like increasingly-sophisticated apps and digital assistants. But a lot of it is collected purely for the sake of highly targeted ads, and much of it goes way too far. The other problem is that even when they collect necessary data for proper operation of assistants or other software, they don't ONLY collect it for that purpose. It goes right in the pot with all the other data they've collected on you... outfits like Google/Alphabet and Facebook are especially big on this. That's why they keep offering more and more "free" services/apps/etc and growing their "software suite". The more things of theirs you use, the more data they milk. Email, documents, search for keywords and tag you with them. Youtube, track videos watched, search through comments, etc. It never ends. They're almost entirely ad revenue and thus they and others like them are the biggest offenders. But even those who aren't in it just for ad revenue aren't completely saints either.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
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Yeah that's a good point - it seems like it's just a more sophisticated way of delivering ad content. I try to block ads at every possible opportunity I get. It gets exhausting, but watching commercials everywhere is something I don't particularly want to spend my time doing. And it doesn't guarantee I'm going to buy their product either. :lol:
 

randomizer

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As of Marshmallow it does. For applications built on the Marshmallow or later SDK you can deny them when they are requested. For applications built on older SDKs that request permissions at install time you need to go into the settings to deny the permissions. Android then feeds them fake data so that they still work.
 
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