Are your Android apps secretly sharing your location with advertisers? Some developers are accidentally leaving on this critical data-invading setting when using third-party SDKs
- Some Android apps contain invasive data-gathering SDKs that gather location data without user consent
- Location data is then sold to advertisers, or purchased by law enforcement for targeting and tracking US citizens
- Developers, regulators, and legislators should work together to remove the incentive for SDKs to gather this data
Monetizing an app is a key part of development. But developers frequently use third-party software development kits (SDKs) rather than develop their own monetization tools.
These SDKs often come preloaded with data-collection mechanisms that allow developers to choose what types of user data it would like to collect to sell to advertisers. Sometimes, developers leave every setting on.
According to a warning from the Electric Frontier Foundation, SDKs with their default data collection settings left on are harvesting highly invasive location data, which is then passed on to advertisers and data brokers. Critically, this data can then be purchased and...
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