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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

#61

Post by tgb »

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".

The problem was actually wifi information (which can be used to infer location) not location. What OS are you using that you can't choose permissions individually for an app? I forget which version of Android got that but it's at least a couple years old at this point. The other benefit being that it installs updates without having to ask for you permission, then when the app needs a permission, it asks you if you want to grant that permission. And you can go to Settings->Apps->[The App]->Permissions to enable/disable them individually later.

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

#62

Post by pavel_lishin »

on_and_off wrote: post #54
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…

Some apps check their permission at each start. I recently started dating a chinese gal and she insists we communicate through wechat. At this point, I must have at least 10 chat services on my phone, what's one more ? Unfortunately, it asks for many permissions at the first startup and checks them everytime. Also, it displays an annoying popup over the mic icon in order to make me give it that permission too .. I ha…

iOS or Android? On Android, if I tell an app "no" enough times (2?), the system UI offers me a checkbox: "never ask about this again".

Although I suppose the app itself can show "please enable" messages outside of the system UI...

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

#63

Post by on_and_off »

pavel_lishin wrote: post #62
on_and_off wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some apps check their permission at each start. I recently started dating a chinese gal and she insists we communicate through wechat. At this point, I must have at least 10 chat services on my phone, what's one more ? Unfortunately, it asks for many permissions at the first startup and checks them everytime. Also, it displays an annoying popup over the mic icon in order to make me give it that permission too .. I ha…

iOS or Android? On Android, if I tell an app "no" enough times (2?), the system UI offers me a checkbox: "never ask about this again". Although I suppose the app itself can show "please enable" messages outside of the system UI...

I have not checked on iOS but I guess the app has the same behavior there since the 2 platforms privacy models are now pretty similar : At each startup (and also maybe at each screen display, I have not checked that far) the app checks its permissions.

It first displays a full screen splash (already a big nono for a messaging app, these must load quickly) during that time. If it misses either contacts or localization it will ask for these.

Since it checks each time, even if you accept at first and revoke afterward, it will still ask again the next time you use the app (and revoking permissions understandably restarts the app).

Of course you can refuse them permanently but then the app will be stuck on that screen with a popup asking you to activate these permissions.

So far, it is the only messaging app I have seen with such an aggressive approach to critical permissions.

It can also be argued that the app does not need any of these to offer its core feature.

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

#66

Post by 0x4a42 »

ruslan_talpa wrote: post #10
jacquesm wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then you might as well stop using your smartphone and all 3rd party apps on it. The vast majority contain SDKs which tattle your whereabouts, contacts and other interesting tidbits to advertising networks.

Or, you might as well start paying for the apps you use (like more than $1) :) The vast majority of FREE 3rd party apps have tracking SDK, that is an important distinction. I mean really, what did you expect, the developers of those apps giving them for free in exchange for nothing? (the fact that they hide this is another discussion)

Nowadays, even middle-end, high-end apps that cost hundred of $, will track you anytime you do something with them (ie: Autodesk, Adobe...).

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

#67

Post by shostack »

jacquesm wrote: post #29
shostack wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Serious question... Is there any data on usage of tracking for paid vs free apps? There are plenty of cookie onboarding vendors who will pay a monthly recurring CPM rate for mobile logins that they can match against and they do not require you to show ads. So if the majority of users are not privacy aware and would just accept whatever permissions are requested, what is the disincentive for a paid app to include thes…

None, and quite a few do.

I know, but do you happen to have any data to reference that actually breaks down the % who do vs. those who don't? Obviously that would be messy data, but I'm genuinely curious as to what the adoption rate is for those sorts of things.

I actually don't know much about mobile app traffic analysis, so I'm not sure how easy that is to sniff.

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