Daily Activities On Your Device Being Recorded By Numerous Android Apps

Recent research shows that international Computer Science Institute in California has turned up some disturbing discoveries which shows that a total of 17,000 Android apps has been keeping track and record of the activities on your device of which a CNET reportindicates it’s a violation of Google’s policy on acquiring useful and private data which can be used to mark promotional users. 

The report shows that most Android apps keep track on you by linking your Advertising ID to other personal information’s you provide on your device that is beyond your reach. With this recent discovery, it shows that only a few percents of app developers use the Advertising Code (which is a unique code) given to them by Google.

Making reference to the blog published recently regarding the research, Serge Egelman who is the head researcher of the research team explains how they were able to discover apps that send information that could identify users.

 The research shows some well respected and famous apps involved such as Flipboard, Audiobooks by Audible, and Angry Birds Classic. According to the news site, some utility apps such as Clean Master and Battery Doctor which has been installed on over 1 billion devices over the world.

Here is what CNET has to say about the research:

‘’Google said it had investigated Egelman’s report and taken on some apps, it declined to say how many apps it acted on or what action was taken, or to identify which of its policies the apps had violated. The Company said its policies allow for the collection of hardware identifiers and the Android ID for some purposes, like fraud detection, but not for the targeting of ads’’.