Findings Reveal iPhone, Android, IPad Apps Intrude Personal Data

[Rapture]

I thought this was a very interesting topic to talk about. With all of the Apps that we install on our phones and devices nowadays, I figured something like this was bound to happen. Anyways:

"The Wall Street Journal has found out that smartphone applications in iPhone and Android could transmit a user’s age, gender, location, other personal information and the mobile device’s unique ID to advertising companies. Of the 101 popular smartphone applications for iPhone and Android phones tested, 56 transmitted information about the mobile device’s unique ID to ad companies, 47 transmitted location of the phone, while 5 transmitted the users’ gender and age to third-parties, all without the users knowing the data breach."

Source: http://inaudit.com/audit/it-audit/f...android-ipad-apps-intrude-personal-data-3768/

"Unfortunately, applications rarely provide privacy policies that clearly state how users' sensitive information will be used, and users have no way of knowing where applications send the information given to them."

Source: http://www.usnews.com/science/artic...apps-harvest-spread-personal-information.html

Opinions? Do you think they need to do better with the security on these smartphones and devices?

I have a Blackberry, myself. I have no other apps installed other than what came with the phone and I don't use most of them...asides from FB, the weather channel, and my phone's browser. I think they could be doing better with the security by regulating the apps that are available for download and etc...and that may sound a bit big brother-ish, but you really don't know exactly what you are going to get when you download an app. It could say one thing and do another. Later on you could realize its a piece of junk and your phone starts acting funny and you have a virus. I feel there should be some sort of regulation on the apps that are out there...and that if you do download one, what exact personal information they are going to collect on you and how it is going to be used. Otherwise, they could plunder your information at will...like some apparently are.

 

[Valvalis]

It is really uncomfortable that companies can do this. It would be nice if just for once, a new technology could come out that wasn't abused for corrupt purposes--a lot of people will say "oh, if you don't like it then don't use a phone"--but why should it have to be that way? For something that's as useful as a cell phone is, even life-saving, can't it just not be like everything else that people use to monitor us?

I mean, I found out recently that if your credit card has a "Blink )))" symbol on it, someone can stand far away from you and use a device that reads all of your information without you knowing And they say it's so that you can be conveniently monitored by the companies, and for ease of tracking transactions and whatnot, but this sort of big brother monitoring has to stop. What it inevitably leads to is power being consolidated within a small number of people, and I think it's fair to say that history has shown this to be a horrible, treacherous idea.