Inside Google

iPhone and Android Users Face Many Companies Who Want To Know Where They Are

A study by researchers at Intel Labs, Penn State and Duke University last year revealed that 15 of 30 popular Android apps send location data to advertisers — often without notifying users. “People don’t understand what’s going on with their data,” said John Simpson, director of consumer privacy at Consumer Watchdog. “It’s sort of being sucked up without their real knowledge.”

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Apple Finally Acknowledges Hidden Tracking File On iPhones

“They’re trying to quell an understandable storm of concern,” said John Simpson, director of the privacy project at Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group. But he added, “It sounds like they’re going to continue doing a lot of stuff that is potentially problematic.”

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Smartphones Like Apple’s iPhone Hold Treasure Trove of Data on Users’ Lives

“These aren’t smartphones — they are spy phones,” said John M. Simpson, director of Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project. “Consumers must have the right to control whether their data is gathered and how it is used. People don’t realize the absolute gold mine of data about their life that exists inside their smartphone,” he added. “There really needs to be an educational process started so that people will begin to understand that.”

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Feds Probe Privacy Violations Involving Smartphone App Data

“I don’t think the average consumer has any idea that what most people consider smartphones are nothing more than spy phones,” said John Simpson, director of the privacy project at Consumer Watchdog.

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