Free apps in the Google Playstore are not as free as you think: you usually pay with your data.

Almost 90 percent of the free apps in the Google Play Store share the data obtained from them with Google parent company Alphabet. Data collection and use through mobile apps has already gotten “out of control,” warn experts at the University of Oxford in a current study.

Little awareness

According to the researchers, data collected particularly often can contain details such as age, gender, location and information about other apps on the affected user's smartphone. “The data can then be used for a number of purposes, including targeted advertising, credit scoring or targeted political campaign messages,” says the report from the Department of Computer Science at Oxford. Many people are not even aware of how data flows from smartphones to advertising groups and other intermediaries.

In addition to the 88 percent of apps from the Google Play Store that forward data to Alphabet, almost 43 percent of free Google apps also share data with the social network Facebook, while significant percentages are also exchanged with Twitter, Verizon, Microsoft and Amazon. After the study was published, Google stated in a statement that it did not agree with the research methodology. “The study misunderstands common functional services such as crash reporting and analytics and describes how apps share data to provide these services,” Google said in its statement.

Lack of transparency as a problem

However, experts consider this argument to be an excuse. “It is impossible for the average user to understand how their data is being used – and ultimately prevent it. Companies track people, then use that data and target people in ways that most of us would find very intrusive. “It’s no longer about the need to collect data to show relevant ads – it’s about maximizing profits at the expense of people’s fundamental rights,” said Frederike Kaltheuner of the human rights organization Privacy International .

To the paper “ Third Party Tracking in the Mobile Ecosystem ” (PDF file)

Source: press release


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1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )