Facebook, Microsoft, Google apps silently collect Android user data, study says

The researchers also noted there may be an ecosystem where the data collected from a handset could be shared between the different companies.

October 13, 2021 06:31 pm | Updated 06:33 pm IST

Researchers at the university examined data sent by six variants of the Android operating software developed by Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Realme, LineageOS and e/OS.

Researchers at the university examined data sent by six variants of the Android operating software developed by Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Realme, LineageOS and e/OS.

Android-powered smartphones, pre-installed with Facebook, Google and Microsoft apps, silently collect user data without providing an opt-out option, according to a new study by Trinity College Dublin.

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This data includes app screens viewed by users, web activity, duration of phone calls and device identifiers like hardware serial number.

Researchers at the university examined data sent by six variants of the Android operating software developed by Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, Realme, LineageOS and e/OS.

With minimal configuration and when the handset is idle, all the variants except e/OS transmitted “substantial amounts” of information to the OS developer and to third parties including Google, Microsoft, and Facebook that had pre-installed system apps. No opt-out option was available, the researchers noted in a study titled ‘Android Mobile OS Snooping by Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei and Realme handsets’.

The Xiaomi handset sends details of all app screens viewed by the user to Xiaomi, including when and how long each app is used, including timing and duration of phone calls. This is similar to cookies that track people’s activity as they move between web pages, the study added. The data is said to have been sent outside Singapore and Europe.

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The Swiftkey keyboard on Huawei handsets sends details of app usage specifically to Microsoft, according to the study, which includes when a user is writing a text, typing in the search bar or searching for contacts.

Samsung, Xiaomi, realme and Google collect device identifiers like hardware serial number and an advertising advertising identifiers. This means that when a user resets an advertising identifier the new identifier value can be linked back to the same device, potentially undermining the use of user-resettable setting, the study noted.

The researchers also noted there may be an ecosystem where the data collected from a handset could be shared between the different companies.

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