New research from the International Computer Science Institute in California has revealed some worrying results.
ΠAbout 17.000 Android apps record and store all user activity. According to Google's policy, the storage of personal data for the purpose of targeted advertising is considered a violation.
Research has also shown that these applications can and do record user data by linking the user's Advertising ID to other information on their device that cannot be restricted in any other way. Advertising ID is a unique number used to drive personalized ads to the user, and although Google only recommends using this feature, less than 1/3 of the information-collecting applications make exclusive use of Advertising ID. In other words, the rest of the applications utilize all possible ways of collecting personal data.
The CNET website reports that some of the popular applications we use every day do not follow Google's instructions. Some of these applications are Angry Birds, Audiobooks by Audible, Flipboard and Clean Master.
In response, Google said it has launched its own investigation and intends to take steps to prevent this from happening again, avoiding specifying the number of applications affected or how it intends to act to address them.
