Now I will say something up front. I am not a fan of Uber. Some of the stuff I’ve been reading about them has really turned me off using them. Example, one of their drivers telling a woman that she “deserved” cancer, or Uber investor Ashton Kucher saying it’s okay to dig up dirt on journalists who write negative things about Uber. You can now add privacy issues to the list. Apparently the Android version of the Uber app sends a shocking amount of personal data back to the company without your permission:
According to the researcher, GironSec, the Uber app automatically “calls home” and sends private data back to the company – without users having expressly granted it permission to do so. The application is allegedly sending back users’ call history, Wi-Fi connections used, GPS locations and every type of device ID possible.
Not only individual user data but the Uber app apparently checks neighboring WiFi zones and sends back their router’s capabilities, frequencies and IDs.
Seriously? If you look at the list of data it sends home, it’s pretty shocking and invasive. This amounts to the Uber app on Android being malware. Now Uber has responded to this by trying to explain this away and claiming that this is for your own good. But I for one am not buying it. This has really put the nail in the coffin in terms of yours truly ever using Uber. I for one hope that Google is watching as I’m pretty sure that Uber has violated some agreement with Google by having an App like this. And seeing as their business model is illegal in a lot of places, I hope they cease to exist quickly.
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This entry was posted on November 27, 2014 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Uber. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Uber App For Android Sends Data Home Without Your Permission
Now I will say something up front. I am not a fan of Uber. Some of the stuff I’ve been reading about them has really turned me off using them. Example, one of their drivers telling a woman that she “deserved” cancer, or Uber investor Ashton Kucher saying it’s okay to dig up dirt on journalists who write negative things about Uber. You can now add privacy issues to the list. Apparently the Android version of the Uber app sends a shocking amount of personal data back to the company without your permission:
According to the researcher, GironSec, the Uber app automatically “calls home” and sends private data back to the company – without users having expressly granted it permission to do so. The application is allegedly sending back users’ call history, Wi-Fi connections used, GPS locations and every type of device ID possible.
Not only individual user data but the Uber app apparently checks neighboring WiFi zones and sends back their router’s capabilities, frequencies and IDs.
Seriously? If you look at the list of data it sends home, it’s pretty shocking and invasive. This amounts to the Uber app on Android being malware. Now Uber has responded to this by trying to explain this away and claiming that this is for your own good. But I for one am not buying it. This has really put the nail in the coffin in terms of yours truly ever using Uber. I for one hope that Google is watching as I’m pretty sure that Uber has violated some agreement with Google by having an App like this. And seeing as their business model is illegal in a lot of places, I hope they cease to exist quickly.
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This entry was posted on November 27, 2014 at 10:16 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Uber. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.