A survey reveals that popular apps like Tinder and Candy Crush are massively collecting your location data. This surveillance, often ignored by users, fuels a lucrative market for the resale of sensitive information.
The collection of personal data by the applications mobiles is a well-known phenomenon. In the past, giants like Tiktok or Meta have already been singled out for invasive practices. A study notably revealed that Facebook received sensitive information about its users via third parties, such as medical companies or online services. These practices, aimed at power their advertising systemscontinue to pose serious threats on the privacy protection and the potential abuses of these digital giants.
Today, a new investigation reveals a even more worrying situation : of the thousands of appsincluding famous games as Candy Crush or dating platforms as Tindercollect your data from localisation without you being fully aware of it. This information, extracted via integrated advertising systemsend up in the hands of specialized companies, such as Gravy Analytics, which resell then to companies or government agencies.
-Candy Crush and Tinder participate in massive surveillance of your movements
Gravy Analyticsa data collection and resale company, plays a central role in this collection. It uses a method called “real-time bidding” (RTB), where companies bid to display advertisements in mobile applications. This process also allows them to capture data like the GPS coordinates or the user IP addresses. This information is then resold to various clients, whether commercial or institutional. Affected apps include games such as Temple Run and Candy Crush, social platforms like Tumblras well as health apps or from pregnancy monitoring.
These practices often remain unknown to developers applications, because they do not require adding specific code to their software. THE integrated advertising system acts discreetlytransforming each user into a data source. Gravy’s subsidiary, Venntel, has already sold this type of information to US government agencies, such asIRS or the border police. This scandal reveals the extent of the exploitation of our personal information and raises serious concerns about transparency and abuses of the advertising ecosystem.
Source : 404media
