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Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

zdnet.com

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Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#41

Post by dhritzkiv »

RBerenguel wrote: post #21
teej wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Recent convert to Dark Sky. Highly recommend it. One of those increasingly rare instances where you can pay upfront for quality software.

Unless you are outside the US or UK or don't want to create a new iTunes account tied to those places (if you happen to have a valid card or an iTunes gift card for these countries)

As someone in Canada who wasn't able to download DarkSky for iOS, I've found Weather Line provides many of the same features (including up-to-the-minute precipitation forecasts). It uses the DarkSky's API for its data.

Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#42

Post by ausvisaissues »

willstrafach wrote: post #23
marksomnian wrote: post #3

Classic corporate response. They're sorry because their analytics shows that brand sentiment will increase by x%, and they don't even need to mean it. Happy customer of Dark Sky here.

Dark Sky actually addressed this topic recently with some additional information. Good read. https://blog.darksky.net/location-privacy/

Just deleted AccuWeather. I am 100% convinced by the blog post -- but the DarkSky App is unfortunately not available outside USA.

I really wish that the user could selectively switch on or off what permissions an app receives -- Instead of a blanket list of permissions at the install. For instance -- "lie to the App and give location obly within 100m".

Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#43

Post by fencepost »

What I'm curious about is the best way to test this in other apps - the stock weather app on my phone pulls data from AccuWeather, but do they also have the problem features?

Pretty sure I can monitor what IPs my phone is connecting to with some of the routers I have access to, monitoring the actual packet data itself is a bit more troublesome - and may not be useful if it's encrypted.

Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#44

Post by userbinator »

Silhouette wrote: post #15
AndrewCHM wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can buy a phone like that, they are usually advertised for rural use edit: or you can make one http://zerophone.org/ which also has plans to crowdfund some pre-built phones

I'd love to, but as someone who has spent a lot of time looking recently, it's certainly not easy to find anything suitable here in the UK. You can get dumbphones, but getting a good dumbphone, with reliable reception and decent battery life, is a different question altogether. If you want anything at all beyond basic features, like say a dual SIM option for use when travelling, you're straight into high-end smartpho…

Dual (or even triple, and I've seen 4 and 5 too) SIMs is pretty much standard on phones, dumb or smart, intended for the Asia market, mostly produced by various small companies based on the standard Mediatek platform, but you can buy those online.

Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#45

Post by pishpash »

ausvisaissues wrote: post #42
willstrafach wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dark Sky actually addressed this topic recently with some additional information. Good read. https://blog.darksky.net/location-privacy/

Just deleted AccuWeather. I am 100% convinced by the blog post -- but the DarkSky App is unfortunately not available outside USA. I really wish that the user could selectively switch on or off what permissions an app receives -- Instead of a blanket list of permissions at the install. For instance -- "lie to the App and give location obly within 100m".

Maybe this (noise added to data going to advertisers) should be required on phones, it's basically an enforced form of data privacy.

Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#48

Post by rasz »

ve55 wrote: post #5

If as a user, these types of things anger you, please just stop using the product. These practices will continue to get worse as long as users put up with it.

Worried about car accidents? never leave a house, cant be easier than that!

The answer is regulation and heavy fines.

Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#49

Post by Too »

Uninstalling the horeshit is easy, trusting the replacement app is the next problem.

Anyway, there is an easy fix. Both Android and IOS allows you to disable GPS permissions for specific apps. Just disable it and add your home town as favorite. 1. Weather reports aren't that local. 2. You rarely travel frequent enough that this becomes an inconvenience, and if you are traveling that frequent, you are more likely interested in the weather at your next destination rather than current location.

Re: Despite privacy outrage, AccuWeather still shares location data with ad firms

#50

Post by tinus_hn »

Too wrote: post #49

Uninstalling the horeshit is easy, trusting the replacement app is the next problem. Anyway, there is an easy fix. Both Android and IOS allows you to disable GPS permissions for specific apps. Just disable it and add your home town as favorite. 1. Weather reports aren't that local. 2. You rarely travel frequent enough that this becomes an inconvenience, and if you are traveling that frequent, you are more likely inte…

Except this app notes the wifi hotspots you connect to so they can still track you if you turn off location permissions.

I don't know why Apple haven't removed them from the App Store yet.

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