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Ads in Popular Apps Give Police a Powerful Tool to Spy on Users

103 points • by mgh2 • yesterday at 5:32 PM • 25 comments • view on HN

Comments

delichon • yesterday at 7:13 PM

Google appears to be overlooking their explicit ban on this.

  If your app handles personal and sensitive user data, then you must ... Not sell personal and sensitive user data. 
The rule also applies to third-party code.

  If you include third party code (for example, an SDK) in your app, you must ensure that the third party code used in your app, and that third party's practices with respect to user data from your app, are compliant with Google Play Developer Program policies... For example, you must ensure that your SDK providers do not sell personal and sensitive user data from your app.
https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

Isn't this abuse what we are supposed to be paying their 15% Play Store tax to stop?

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everdrive • yesterday at 7:21 PM

There's no good reason to use your phone for any more than the bare minimum. Remove as many apps as possible. Treat it like a landline by just keeping in on a desk or something when you're at home.

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jareklupinski • yesterday at 6:31 PM

> The tool collects vast quantities of location data from smartphones via commonly used weather, gaming, email and religious apps.

is there a list

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moscoe • yesterday at 9:29 PM

This is why network-wide dns ad-blocking is necessary.

Setup a personal ad-blocking vps/vpn to route traffic through when away from home: https://trailofbits.github.io/algo/

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yieldcrv • yesterday at 11:48 PM

I’d rather give my info directly to the party at this point

Shouldn’t have bullied tiktok into selling for US users

RecycledEle • yesterday at 10:43 PM

So I let a company know my location, and they turn the data over to the pigs.

Not good.