IPhone and Android Apps Breach Privacy

Boyfriend Tracker app raises controversy in Brazil     Silvia Izquierdo/AP Google has removed a the Boyfriend Tracker app in Brazil due to complaints about privacy abuses. Brazilians were outraged when they learned their country was a top target of the U.S. National Security Agency's overseas spying operation, with data from billions of calls and emails swept up in Washington's top secret surveillance program. Yet when it comes to the cloak and dagger effort of catching philandering lovers, all high-tech weapons appear to be fair game — at least to the tens of thousands of Brazilians who downloaded "Boyfriend Tracker" to their smartphones before the stealthy software was removed from the Google Play app store last week, apparently in response to complaints about privacy abuses and its potential to be used for extortion or even stalking. "Brazilians are a jealous people, what can I say? "It's a different type of spying," she said of comparisons to the NSA surveillance program.

Privacy New technologies are radically advancing our freedoms, but they are also enabling unparalleled invasions of privacy. National and international laws have yet to catch up with the evolving need for privacy that comes with new digital technologies. Respect for individuals' autonomy, anonymous speech, and the right to free association must be balanced against legitimate concerns like law enforcement. EFF fights in the courts and Congress to maintain your privacy rights in the digital world, and works with partners around the globe to support the development of privacy-protecting technologies. Your cell phone helps you keep in touch with friends and family, but it also makes it easier for the government to track your location. See More And the next time you try to board a plane, watch out—you might be turned away after being mistakenly placed on a government watch list, or be forced to open your email in the security line. As privacy needs evolve, so too should our regulatory regimes. See Less

After 3 Years In Stealth And $20 Million Raised, Aro Mobile Shows Some Skin — Some Android Skin. And We Have Invites. Yesterday, both the New York Times and Robert Scoble unveiled publicly for the first time what a company called Kiha Software has been working on for about three years in stealth now: a piece of software called Aro Mobile. With $20 million in backing from the likes of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, they’re obviously getting a lot of buzz. And that should continue when they fully show the system off in a few weeks at Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. But for now we have a video sneak peak of it in action, and 1,000 exclusive beta invites for TechCrunch readers to try out the software themselves. So what is Aro? Maybe someone sent you an email mentioning an address, the Aro system can recognize that and with the click of a button give you all kinds of actions you can do with it. But it really is one of those things that’s better when you see it in action.

Could someone stalk you using your own smartphone?" While helping research this article, the author's roommate spent an afternoon in that paranoid state one might have after seeing a horror movie alone late at night. The phone would vibrate, she'd jump in surprise, and then check to make sure it was someone she knew calling her before she answered. There are a lot of scary stories out there about smartphone stalking and people stealing your personal information. Potential stalkers have two primary ways they can track you via your smartphone. One way is through social engineering, which requires little or no technical expertise. Another way stalkers can track you is to steal information from your smartphone. The good news is that by taking a few precautions, you can keep potential stalkers at bay.

Google Uses Your LOLs to Decide Which Videos are Funnier At the end of last year, we told you about a new project by YouTube called the “ YouTube Slam “. The project pits two videos against one another in a “hot or not” style competition. The site lets you watch two videos and decide which one is better, or in the case of comedy, funnier. That project alone wasn’t scientific or geeky enough for Google , so the company decided to delve deeper into what makes videos funnier and how the company can detect that you enjoyed it more than any other old video. One place the company decided to go was within the comments on all of the videos that participated in the YouTube Slam. Surprisingly, the company found that the more o’s you put in your LOL comments on the video, the funnier you thought it was. Next we needed an algorithm to rank these funny videos by comedic potential, e.g. is “Charlie bit my finger” funnier than “David after dentist”? How scientific is it exactly?

Android beats iPhone 2-to-1 in new smartphone purchases Apple's iPhone lost share among U.S. consumers who bought a mobile phone in the last three months, while the share for devices running Google's Android climbed, Nielsen said Monday. In August, 28% of those who had purchased a smartphone in the preceding 90 days said that they picked an iPhone, down from 31% who said the same three months earlier. Android's share of recent smartphone buyers jumped from 49% in May to 56% in August, according to Nielsen's data. However, more of Android's gains came at the expense of Research in Motion's BlackBerry than from Apple's iPhone: RIM's share of recent smartphone purchases fell from 16% in May to 9% in August, a seven-point decline that was more than double that of Apple's. "There's always flux in numbers like these," said Jack Gold, a telecommunications analyst at J. Gold Associates. The fall of RIM was even clearer when Nielsen's total share numbers -- all users, not just those who bought a smartphone in the last three months -- were compared.

Location-tracking turns your smartphone into your stalker It knows when you are sleeping. It knows when you're awake. And it's not Santa Claus. It is your increasingly smart smartphone, loaded with processors and apps that you acquired voluntarily, with "location services" that broadcast where you are and, in some cases, what you are doing. [Android malware steals location data from mobile devices] These services are promoted – and successfully sold – as tools to make your life easier and more interesting. Then there is Apple's own description of its latest iPhone M7 coprocessor, which notes that it is, "designed specifically to measure motion data from the accelerometer, gyroscope, and compass," so fitness apps can monitor your workouts. "M7 knows when you're walking, running, or even driving," the company says, so that if you stop driving and start walking, its Maps app will switch to walking turn-by-turn navigation. U.S. appeals court upholds warrantless collection of phone location data] Every move you make...] Hanni Fakhoury agrees.

The Hidden Secret To Managing Your Identity On The Internet Update: Click here for a great infographic and helpful video added to the end of this post Google has a search engine devoted just to you. It’s true. For example, here’s mine. It’s based on tracking your identity on the web. Executive Summary: If you want Google to find all you do and rank it highly, from your Google+ account, use “Edit profile>Other profiles” to add all your profiles (e.g. This special search influences ALL other search results that have anything to do with you, because of how something called “Authorship markup” began affecting web search in early June of 2011. In this post I’ll tell you how to find the search engine about you, and how to make it return the results you want by managing your Google identity. What’s Google Doing With Your Identity? Why should you care? If you use a Google product such as gmail or Google plus, you have a Google profile already. Special links to or from your Google profile determine your identity. What is a Google Identity Anyway?

Why You Should Care About the iPhone Location-Tracking Issue | Gadget Lab An unencrypted file stored in iPhones and iPads records location data. An open source application was used to plot the location data from an iPhone belonging to a Wired.com reporter. You should care about Apple’s collection of geodata on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices, because the method is flawed. To be clear, “care” doesn’t mean you should smash your iPhone with a hammer, rip out the GPS chip and gulp it down your throat. It’s just a matter of a security flaw that puts your location data at risk if it gets in the wrong hands — not an immediate concern, but a concern nonetheless. Two data scientists broke the news Wednesday that an unencrypted file stored on iOS devices contains a detailed log of the device’s geographical data dating back 10 months. As this story developed, some tech observers have attempted to defuse the issue. Here’s why we care. Permanent Data Storage Is Unnecessary Location gathering techniques like this aren’t anything new. But It’s Not a Huge Immediate Danger

Your address book is mine: Many iPhone apps take your data Path got caught red-handed uploading users’ address books to its servers and had to apologize. But the relatively obscure journaling app is not alone. In fact, Path was crucified for a practice that has become an unspoken industry standard. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Foodspotting, Yelp, and Gowalla are among a smattering of iOS applications that have been sending the actual names, email addresses and/or phone numbers from your device’s internal address book to their servers, VentureBeat has learned. Several do so without first asking permission, and Instagram and Foursquare only added permissions prompts after the Path flare-up. Some of these companies deny storing the personal data, as Path was doing, but the transmission alone makes the private data susceptible to would-be intercepters. Path steps on a privacy landmine These same relationships are the building blocks for any successful social application. Above: Unencrypted address book data. Apple provides no protection