Did you know that many of the apps you download to your smartphone now use your .....

[JasonSJackson]

..... microphone to listen to you and your camera to take pictures of you without your confirmation?"

New terms of agreement contracts now being attached to app downloads require users to accept that their cellphones become literal monitoring devices that record conversations and surreptitiously take pictures without the user ever giving permission.

It’s been common knowledge for years that app companies and service providers use GPS technology to pinpoint the location of smartphone users.

However, after purchasing a new Samsung Galaxy Note II and proceeding to download a couple of Android apps, one a social networking app and the other a simple calendar, I was shocked to discover that users are mandated to relinquish every aspect of privacy imaginable in order to download the app.

As you can see from the image above, app companies now demand the right to;

- “Record Audio” – “Allows the app to record audio with the microphone. This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation.”

- “Take pictures and videos” – “Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation.”

App companies are also requiring you to allow them to approximate your location, send SMS messages from your phone that cost you money, read your contacts, read your phone status and identity, get “full network access” to your communications (in other words listen to your phone calls), modify or delete the contents of your USB storage, and disable your screen lock (the 4 digit code that password-protects your phone).

Since the vast majority of people simply consent to terms of agreement without bothering to read them, this means that potentially millions of smartphone users all over the world have given app companies and by extension service providers permission to record their conversations and take pictures of their private life.

This has been allowed to pass virtually unnoticed with barely any press attention or privacy debate whatsoever.

Since smartphones are dependent on apps, users are being given the option to either not use them and render their expensive device largely redundant, or submit to have their private conversations and personal life catalogued as if they were trapped inside The Truman Show.

» Smartphone Apps Now Use Microphone to Record Your Conversations Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

 

[Ohene]

whatever

 

[JasonSJackson]

Users owning smartphones and tablets running Google’s Android operating system may not realize that installed applications can maliciously access private data, record conversations and take photographs at any time, without confirmation.

Current terms of agreement force smartphone users to consent to their information, location and identity being revealed to third party application providers, at any time. App companies demand the right to confidential information before allowing a user to access an app, which may not have been free.

The application description on Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market) lists the permissions the app will be granted upon installation.



Shockingly, applications may be using millions of devices around the world to record private conversations.

If you chose not to accept the terms in the interest of protecting your privacy, the expensive device is essentially rendered useless. Smartphones are dependent on third-party applications.

Many device owners would barely even glance at the terms before downloading an application for their cell phone or tablet. Users may not even be aware that the apps they use every day could be breaching their privacy, cataloguing confidential information.

Popular social networking applications such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have permission to access the aforementioned data at any time, without confirmation, on top of retrieving the precise location of the device.

Even some games require users to grant the application intrusive access before playing it.

Many apps demand to access the following permissions prior to installation:

TAKE PICTURES AND VIDEOS

Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation.

RECORD AUDIO

Allows the app to record audio with the microphone. This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation.

READ YOUR CONTACTS

Allows the app to read data about your contacts stored on your tablet, including the frequency with which you've called, emailed, or communicated in other ways with specific individuals. This permission allows apps to save your contact data, and malicious apps may share contact data without your knowledge. Allows the app to read data about your contacts stored on your phone, including the frequency with which you've called, emailed, or communicated in other ways with specific individuals. This permission allows apps to save your contact data, and malicious apps may share contact data without your knowledge.

READ PHONE STATUS AND IDENTITY

Allows the app to access the phone features of the device. This permission allows the app to determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call.

These permissions allow application developers to breach user’s privacy. Surprisingly, these revelations have avoided media attention and the privacy debate. It’s already well known that mobile devices have been tracking user’s locations by utilising GPS technology; however these permissions allow companies unquestioned access to private data.

Criminals could publish applications with the disguised purpose of stealing identities. They could be aware of your location any time of the day and track your private messages and conversations to learn everything about you.

The majority of applications on the Android store require permissions to override device settings and configurations before installation, as well as access to device peripherals and stored data.

There are approximately 1 billion smartphone units in use around the world, and 6 billion mobile subscribers. Corporations have realised the importance of capitalising on this large, growing market. Smartphone use continues to grow worldwide, and privacy concerns for users will likely be a constant issue.

Last year, mobile security experts demonstrated how an Android application could secretly copy all the photos on a device to a remote web server, without the user ever knowing. All the app would require is permission to access the internet; no special permission is needed for an app to read pictures.

There could be hundreds of malicious applications available on Google Play taking advantage of unsuspecting users. The thought of developers tracking and photographing users is absolutely shocking, and leaves me perturbed. There is no telling what information is in the hands of hackers retrieved from my smartphone.

Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to protect your information and privacy.

Always check what permissions the app will be granted upon installation. Pay attention to permissions that seem suspicious. For example, why should a game require permission to access and send text messages?

These obvious privacy breaches have managed to fly under the radar of media attention. Google needs to address and revamp the permission system so it is easier to understand and protects users. It’s not a great feeling to find an app you installed has taken over your phone, monitoring you at all times.


Read more at Smartphone Apps Are Recording Your Conversations and Filming You Without Notification

Smartphone Apps Are Recording Your Conversations and Filming You Without Notification

 

[JasonSJackson]

whatever

 

[JasonSJackson]

With the rise of smartphone apps, users don't always know what features and functionality those apps may be using. Reports are coming out about various apps that use the phone's microphone (and, sometimes, camera) in somewhat surreptitious ways to gather data. Now, of course, there are certain apps that people expect to use the microphone or a camera -- such as music or TV show identification products. But it's a bit of a surprise that apps such as the massively hyped (and then quickly panned) Color (which is a sort of photo sharing/location-based info service) is making use of your microphone and camera without most users realizing it:
Color uses your iPhone's or Android phone's microphone to detect when people are in the same room. The data on ambient noise is combined with color and lighting information from the camera to figure out who's inside, who's outside, who's in one room, and who's in another, so the app can auto-generate spontaneous temporary social networks of people who are sharing the same experience.
Another app discussed is, Shopkick, which gives people rewards for walking into certain stores. While you might think it could accomplish what it needs with GPS, apparently the stores in question have special devices that emit sounds that you can't hear, the microphone on your phone can pick up, thus "confirming" that you really entered the store.

While the reasoning behind these may be benign, my guess is that most people would feel pretty creeped out about apps turning on either the microphone or camera, without explicitly warning the user and making it clear what's going on (or letting them choose to turn on those features directly). Mike Elgan, who wrote the article linked above, notes (obviously) that surreptitiously turning on your microphone can provide marketers with all sorts of useful data (ya think?), so we should expect it to happen more and more often. Of course, all this is making me think that my Android phone needs an app that warns me whenever the microphone is turned on and lets me block it... Anyone writing that app?

 

[Big Blue]

Don't download those apps. Problem solved.

 

[Mr. Negative]

Don't download those apps. Problem solved.

but but I wanna play Candy Crush Saga and 4 pics one word like everybody else so I don't feel like a social outcast!

 

[concise]

Are we really willing to take at least 30 minutes to fully read the terms of service before installing every app?


Doesn't help that the "install" button is right there at the top, with the privacy policy buried all the way at the bottom, unlike with other normal software, where you at least have to acknowledge the charade of seeing the first couple lines of the legal statement and clicking, "I agree" before you get to install.

 

[JasonSJackson]

Don't download those apps. Problem solved.

genius.

so which apps shouldnt we download?

 

[concise]

genius.

so which apps shouldnt we download?

somebody really gonna dedicate hours to reading the privacy policies of all these apps coming out everyday and document it?

 

[JasonSJackson]

somebody really gonna dedicate hours to reading the privacy policies of all these apps coming out everyday and document it?

i took it he already knew with that ingenius suggestion he gave

 

[dappadonna]

Say word ?

 

[The Prince of All Saiyans]

somebody really gonna dedicate hours to reading the privacy policies of all these apps coming out everyday and document it?

guaranteed somebody has


maybe the good people over at four span can help us out

 

[ugksam]

these zero personality having cell phone addicts dont deserve privacy

 

[BrothaZay]

Only app I used is GPS and Twitter. But i think those came with my phone. I also use a Vignette camerea demo.

But my phone doesnt have a front camera tho