Do you know, your own smartphones can be used to track your activities? According to the reports from NYTimes, more than 250 Games that were found on Android’s Google Play Store can track your TV viewing habits.
More Than 250 Games On Android Use Your Mic to Track What You’re Watching
The previous year we have seen the rise of digital assistant powered smart speakers. At the initial stages, people found it very useful. However, there are many people who called it a privacy nightmares. Do you know, your own smartphones can be used to track your activities?
According to the reports from NYTimes, more than 250 Games that were found on Android’s Google Play Store can track your TV viewing habits. The worst thing is that these apps can track your activities when they are not being played.
Such apps are also found in the iOS store. However, such malicious apps on iOS platform are lesser in number. All of those malicious app uses software from Alphonso, which is a startup that collects users TV viewing data and sells it to advertisers.
The software provided by Alphonso uses smartphone’s microphone to match the audio signals on TV. Well, these data is being sold to target the online advertisements more efficiently. Most of the apps are designated for children and it just records the signals to figure out what’s running on the television.
According to Alphonso, they claim that they have mentioned about audio recording in its Privacy Policy. Users also get the option to opt out of the audio recording permission while installing the app. However, as we already mentioned, most of the apps are developed for kids but nobody cares to take a look at these options while installing an app
It looks like Alphonso had implemented a smart strategy to trap its victims. So, the best way to avoid this type of problem is to double check before granting permissions to any app.
So, what do you think about this? Share your views in the comment box below.
