back to article Amazon sued for allegedly slurping sensitive data via advertising SDK

Amazon and its advertising subsidiary have been sued for allegedly collecting personal and location data from third-party mobile apps without obtaining users' informed consent. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Francisco, aspires to be certified as a class action. Brought on behalf of plaintiff Felix Kolotinsky, the …

  1. Mentat74
    Holmes

    You can complain all you want...

    But most people will always choose convenience over privacy.

    And most people don't seem to care about their own or other people's privacy anyway.

    As long as they get what they want for free...

    All you can do is take care of your own.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: You can complain all you want...

      I can mostly agree with you but I think that people do care. I've had many conversations with 'normal' people (of the type who glaze over if you mention the dread word 'settings') and they have an anecdote about having a conversation IRL with a friend and then seeing adverts online which indicate that the conversation was eavesdropped by their phone. People find things like this creepy and intrusive. They don't know how to stop it. They think it is an unavoidable part of modern life and you would have to become a hermit to avoid it. They are not too far off the mark. I think people just want governments to sort it out for them, preferably without any effort on their part. Not sure I can blame them.

      1. Cris E

        Re: You can complain all you want...

        There's a fair bit of resignation in there too, where regular folks feel there's nothing that can be done and only have a vague idea of the downside and that the price and quality keep getting worse but hey I got a new phone case delivered in 24 hours.

      2. doublelayer Silver badge

        Re: You can complain all you want...

        Unfortunately, I know some people for whom it isn't that they don't know how to do something about it, but that they don't care to do something about it. They're aware that their data is being copied, they're aware that they can do at least some things to reduce it, and, since these are people talking to me, they have someone willing to guide them through some of those options, and they still choose not to. Mostly, I try to ignore that these people exist. I focus on those who do want to prevent this and provide guidance to them, but that group who chooses not to is real.

      3. ChrisMarshallNY
        Black Helicopters

        Re: You can complain all you want...

        My experience is that, when discussing the privacy protections of my software, with non-techs, I get the standard “Oh, I don’t care what people know.” thing. Then, I detail, exactly what these data harvesting companies do with the data.

        Suddenly, privacy becomes quite important.

        In this case, the end-users don’t really have any idea. The ones going for the anglerfish lures are the app devs.

    2. naive

      Re: You can complain all you want...

      When given the opportunity, most people would choose a considerably cheaper car without airbags, anti-lock brakes or even crash protection structures in the body.

      This lawsuit proves the system is working, it only takes one to complain about it and hopefully the judge will make Big-Tech bleed in such a manner that even the Ford Pinto approach is not viable.

  2. may_i Silver badge

    And this is why

    when a site says "Install our wonderful app for more discounts", I never, ever, install their app.

    It seems that the only reason any company makes these apps is to steal information about their customer that they can't easily steal via a web browser.

    1. Caver_Dave Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: And this is why

      Faeces book is pushing its App very hard to me at the moment.

      I wish I didn't have to use Faeces book at all (some family will not communicate other ways!), and I'm certainly not going to load an App and give it any more of my details than it already has! (Yes, I do regularly clean the data Faeces book claims it has on me.)

      1. heyrick Silver badge
        Coat

        Re: And this is why

        "some family will not communicate other ways"

        M'kay, bye.......

        Icon, because if people, even family, expect me to accept corporate spying in order to communicate, there's my coat, there's the door, I'm out of here.

        (and let me tell you, it's a hell of a lot more peaceful without the mindless blather (oh my god, I missed the entire saga of Sandra's toenail, how will I survive!!! ))

        1. TimMaher Silver badge
          Pint

          Re: Sandra’s toenail

          Is that an anagram?

          1. Cris E

            Re: Sandra’s toenail

            If you know, you know. If you don't, it's probably best you step back now.

      2. BartyFartsLast Silver badge

        Re: And this is why

        I wish I didn't have to use Faeces book at all (some family will not communicate other ways!),

        Really?

        They don't have phones?

  3. Sceptic Tank Silver badge
    Trollface

    Meta Inc., my disciple through life.

    Social media is a creep show, indeed. My dentist sent a WattsUp to ask if they can move my appointment to their other practice or set it up for another time. So I replied that they set up another time at the practice in my area because the other practice is quite far to drive. It wasn't 5 minutes after sending the message that I got a text advertisement for some estate agent doing free property evaluations in my area. What am I to do? I'm force-fed WattsUp because that is what everybody uses. If we all switched to Signal we'd have to contend with that weidro Marlinspike, but I doubt all our communications would be monitored for any scrap of information – however flimsy – that could be turned into an advertising opportunity. If these bozos started following somebody around and noting down everything their target did, the cops would soon bust them or they would be punched in the face. But somehow this antisocial behaviour is allowable online.

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: Meta Inc., my disciple through life.

      > My dentist sent a WattsUp

      Man, that's an electrifying tale!

      1. jospanner Silver badge

        Re: Meta Inc., my disciple through life.

        Shocking. I’d consider putting up more resistance than that.

    2. JollyJohn54
      Thumb Up

      Re: Meta Inc., my disciple through life.

      My dentist sent a WattsUp -

      So your dentist knows you have an electric car and wants to show you all the public chargers that are currently (haha!) available, busy or out of order.

      Excellent app.

  4. Wade Burchette

    Blokada is your friend

    Blokada is your friend. This app blocks all manner of snooping done on your phone or tablet. You will be shocked to see how much snooping goes on with an Android device. I stick with version 5 personally, because that version is so damaging to Google, it is banned on their app store. Once the app is installed, you must whitelist a few system apps, such as Visual Voicemail and Phone and maybe a few other ones I cannot remember right now. I also dig through the settings and change my DNS to one that blocks malware.

    But Blokada is my friend. It blocks Amazon's creepy ads in apps, it blocks Google's creepy tracking that is built-in to Android, it stops Whats-app from snooping on your conversations. It has blocked about 450,000 tracking/advertising requests since I bought Samsung S22 a few years ago. I recommend it for every Android device.

    1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

      Re: Blokada is your friend

      I'm not knockimg Blokada, but it's really a "plug n play" solution for the average consumer.

      its basically just a DNS filter using public block lists. It creates a local VPN on your device to itself, as the way to intercept your requests so that it can filter them.

      To avoid such overhead, most people here simply roll their own DNS or use a package called pi-hole to do the job.

      Or, if you don't have a suitable server to use, simply use an ad blocking dns service, such as https://controld.com/free-dns?freeResolverType=blockMalwareAndAds&helpPane=dns

      1. Emir Al Weeq

        Re: Blokada is your friend

        I use the Duck Duck Go version.

        Serious question: would a Pi Hole help if you're out and about using mobile data rather than your own WiFi.

        1. Jamie Jones Silver badge

          Re: Blokada is your friend

          It would work, but you'd have the problem of having to allow "internet" access to your pihole which may be problematic, or slow.

          If you have you're own internet server somewhere, things would be easier, but you still have the issue of authorisation, as your mobile IP will presumably be dynamic.

          I'd suggest instead trying one of those filtered DNS servers I linked to in my previous post.

    2. Christopher Reeve's Horse

      Re: Blokada is your friend

      DNS Filtering only goes so far... It's defenceless to the use of pre-prescribed IP numbers, or DoH (DNS over HTTPS).

  5. DS999 Silver badge

    Said it before I'll say it again

    Close apps once you're done with them! Make a habit of it, then you will do it without even thinking before putting your phone down or in your pocket. They can't track you if the app isn't running. Sure, they could can collect some information when you ran the app but unless it is something you are using constantly throughout the day, they will have a lot less information. And if it is something you only use once or twice a month, they'll have virtually nothing versus the huge volume they can have access to if you leave everything running the background until an OS update restarts your phone.

    Sure we want the best possible protections from our OS and so forth, but it can only do so much. Some apps can't work properly without knowing your location, but that doesn't mean you have to give them access to your location 24x7x365.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Said it before I'll say it again

      Very few apps fail to work properly without knowing your location. The only two on my phone I can think of are Google Maps and a semi-augmented-reality star map. So when I need to use one of those two, I turn on GPS, but keep it off at all other times. (And other apps don't get location permissions, just to make sure.)

      1. DS999 Silver badge

        Re: Said it before I'll say it again

        There are others. For example, weather apps, gasbuddy (finds lowest gas prices in the area) and so forth. Now sure some of them let you input your city or whatever so you don't have to give it your exact location, but there are plenty of other things an app can grab or potentially grab while running that reveal information you don't want to reveal. So quitting apps immediately after your done with them is unquestionably better regardless of how tight you make your app permissions.

        There are some things you can't prevent the app from accessing, even something as simple as the MEMS sensors that can detect walking speed / stride could reveal information about your level of fitness. There are tons of side channels open that we don't give much thought to but the people trying to compromise your privacy to make money do nothing but think about these things every day at work.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like