Apps illegally sending your data to facebook, even if you don't use facebook, and how to put a stop to it.
A report from Financial Times (via 9to5Google) says that a study of 34 of the most popular mobile apps found that at least 20 of them send sensitive user data to Facebook without obtaining the user’s consent beforehand. Such data may include information that users wouldn’t want to divulge, such as whether they have any children, and this is illegal in Europe under the new GDPR privacy act.
The list of apps found to share data with Facebook without consent includes Kayak, MyFitnessPal, Skyscanner and TripAdvisor, the report explains.
At least 61 per cent of apps tested automatically transfer data to Facebook the moment a user opens the app. This happens whether people have a Facebook account or not, or whether they are logged into Facebook or not.
User data is sent to Facebook as soon as the app is opened:
The information sent instantly included the name of the application, the unique identification of the user with Google and the number of times the application was opened and closed since it was downloaded. Some, such as Kayak, the travel site, then sent detailed information about people’s flight searches to Facebook, including travel dates, if the user had children and what flights and destinations they had searched for.The data collection practice has serious implications, as it allows Facebook to learn more details about users:
For example, a person who has installed the following applications, Qibla Connect (a Muslim prayer application), Period Tracker Clue (a period tracker), Indeed (a job search application), My Talking Tom (an application for children), could be outlined as a Muslim woman, job seeker, with children.While Facebook says that the developers are responsible for complying with regulations, the Facebook SDK doesn’t allow developers to include prompts that would ask for user consent.
When app developers complained about the problem to Facebook, the company said that an SDK update would fix the issue, but many popular apps are not using it. Some of the developers who made the changes say the problem continues to linger even with the new Facebook SDK in place.
In addition to the data being available to Facebook, any data collection runs the risk that it could be vulnerable to hackers. Facebook admitted back in October that hackers had been able to access data from 30 million users of the social network.
The list of extremely popular apps that transmit data to Facebook without your consent are:
| App | Install base | Genre |
| Super-Bright LED Flashlight | >500,000,000 | PRODUCTIVITY |
| My Talking Tom | >500,000,000 | GAME_CASUAL |
| Security Master | >500,000,000 | TOOLS |
| Skater Boy | >100,000,000 | GAME_ARCADE |
| Tripadvisor | >100,000,000 | TRAVEL_AND_LOCAL |
| Shazam | >100,000,000 | MUSIC_AND_AUDIO |
| Spotify | >100,000,000 | MUSIC_AND_AUDIO |
| VK | >100,000,000 | SOCIAL |
| Indeed Job Search | >50,000,000 | BUSINESS |
| Duolingo | >50,000,000 | EDUCATION |
| Clean Master | >50,000,000 | TOOLS |
| Calorie Counter - MyFitnessPal | >50,000,000 | HEALTH_AND_FITNESS |
| Skyscanner | >10,000,000 | TRAVEL_AND_LOCAL |
| Yelp | >10,000,000 | TRAVEL_AND_LOCAL |
| Kayak | >10,000,000 | TRAVEL_AND_LOCAL |
| Period Tracker Clue | >10,000,000 | HEALTH_AND_FITNESS |
| Muslim Pro - Prayer Times, Azan, Quran & Qibla | >10,000,000 | LIFESTYLE |
| Salatuk (Prayer Time) | >10,000,000 | LIFESTYLE |
| Family Locator GPS Tracker | >10,000,000 | LIFESTYLE |
| King James Bible | >10,000,000 | LIFESTYLE |
| Qibla Connect | >10,000,000 | LIFESTYLE |
So, What can you do about it?
If you're in Europe, you should start by making a complaint to the European Data Protection Supervisor.If you're anywhere else in the world you have a few options.
You can uninstall all apps that send data to Facebook, including Facebook. (Works on Android and Apple devices)
Or, if you really can't live without your Spotify or whatever, then Android users have another great tool that they can use, Blokada.
Blokada is an ad-blocker that runs at the DNS level on Android Devices, that can block ads in most apps, as well as tracking from these apps.
the result is that when a tracking URL such as the one seen in the above screenshot is requested by an app, Blokada tells the app that the address doesn't exist.
No address, No tracking. it's that simple.
If you're setting up Blokada then the minimum Blacklists that you'll want to enable are:
1. Mother of all AdBlocking
2. Dan Pollock's hosts file
3. Peter Lowe's hosts file
4. Coin Blocker List
5. Goodbye Ads by Jerryn70
And that should take care of pretty much all web tracking (Not just facebooks tracking) as well as ads!
Sorry Apple Users, You're shit-out-of-luck, as this tool only works on Android. So you'll just have to remove the apps that are illegally tracking you.
Leaving Facebook altogether?
Many people have been abandoning Facebook recently, mainly because of the Cambridge Analytica data leak, but there are also many other reasons to leave Facebook, such as:Real Names Policy
Censorship
Privacy
Ads
Psychological Harm
Taxes
Racism
Control of media
Miscellaneous
That's just the tip of the iceberg, but you should really go through that list of links there and read it. every claim there has a link to evidence that supports it.
So, now, you probably want a Facebook replacement, but have no idea where to start?
I've done all the hard work for you.
MeWe.
Well, just look at their FAQ: https://mewe.com/faq
And also, Read their Privacy Bill of Rights.
But, If you need more convincing, or are too lazy to click the FAQ button yourself, here are a few key points:
- Engineered with privacy-by-design
- MeWe members enjoy total control over what they share along with full ownership of their content and data.
- No newsfeed or content manipulation.
- MeWe members see every post, chat, comment, etc., made by individuals and groups they are connected to, in true timeline order with no interference.
- MeWe has absolutely no political agenda and it has a very straightforward Terms of Service. MeWe is for all law-abiding people everywhere in the world, regardless of political, ethnic, religious, sexual, and other preferences.
- MeWe is available on your favourite Android or iOS smartphone, as well as on all desktops and tablets.
- You control who receives and views your posts. Since there is no way to boost anything on MeWe, you can be assured that your posts are shared only with members you connect with.
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