Researchers Say App Data Sharing is "Out of Control"

[engine]

University of Oxford researchers have said that sharing of tracking and data harvesting by mobile apps is "out of control", with nearly 90% of free apps on Google Play sharing data.

And many people are not aware how data flows from smartphones to advertising groups, data brokers and other intermediaries, Prof Nigel Shadbolt, who lead the research team, told the BBC.

"People [in businesses] are desperate to get as many eyeballs and click-throughs as they can," he said.

Researcher Max Van Kleek added: "I don't think there's any notion of control."

[bbc.co.uk...]

Third Party Tracking in the Mobile Ecosystem (PDF) [arxiv.org...]

[keyplyr]

Another argument in favor of catfishing :)

nearly 90% of free apps on Google Play sharing data

I would imagine at some point Google will need to address this. It's become common for us to "agree" to the terms when installing these apps, and I've noticed many are extremely vague.

[RhinoFish]

App-sphere having issues of late...
[marketingland.com...]

Truth is, top 10 Apps are awesome, after that, gets swampy pretty quickly.

I once had 34,000 paid clicks through a very wide ranging App network, zero sales tracked.

[topr8]

data harvesting by mobile apps is "out of control", with nearly 90% of free apps on Google Play sharing data.

although it's a good headline for journalists and politicians to shout about ... but ...

is anyone actually suprised by this?

we all know nothing comes for free.

what do people expect?

[justpassing]

Now, there is also data and data. It's not the same if app are collecting your IP address or eventually your geographical location, and if they collect your name, address, email, browsing history, contact information etc...

[engine]

is anyone actually suprised by this?

we all know nothing comes for free.

what do people expect?

No, not surprised at all, and yes, nothing is for free.
I think people should expect some form of control over this. If a user pays for app, shouldn't they be able to choose?
I beleive the pressure will eventually start to tell much more over the tracking excesses.

[topr8]

absolutely i agree, if you pay for the app, data collection should very much be specifically permission based and very clear and very easy to give/refuse permission.

but free apps, tbh even if you tell people what data is being collected and how it could be used ... most would still rather not pay.