Just when you thought that there could not be enough data leaks a new one emerges.
A study looks at the usage of installed application methods (IAMs) API calls across the Android ecosystem. Simply put the OS is sending details of apps we have on our phone to advertisers!
Read all about it here
Please note this external article opens up ads on the page so exercise caution
/e/ Updates: The development team has been asked to check all libraries in their module source code to identify any such breach and remove it if detected.
The danger to user privacy comes from the fact that an advertiser could infer interests and personal traits (gender, spoken languages, religious beliefs, age groups) by analyzing a user’s list of installed applications.
→ PDF 1-11Leave my Apps Alone! A Study on how Android Developers Access Installed Apps on User’s Device
Authors of
DISIM, University of L’AquilaL’, Italy
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands
ETH Zürich, Switzerland
Is this something /e/ team can solve? When you install classyshark it also lists all apps without any permission. Would be cool /e/ could return a fake list of installed apps. Should be switchable, fake or real.
faking the list and sending some dummy values.