Popular weather app, Accuweather, has been accused of sharing users' location data even when they opt out. This news comes after customers learned that 500 apps in Google's Play Market contained backdoors that allowed developers to install spyware. Researchers were able to use the same data collected by Accuweather to locate a phone within a few meters.
From ZDNet:
Read Full Article »"When GPS access is not allowed, the app sends the [Wi-Fi network name] and possibly uses their Bluetooth beacon technology. This seems especially problematic as their website plainly states that use of Wi-Fi information is for geolocation, and that seems a bit over the line for situations where the user pretty clearly does not wish to share their location," he said.
In a blog post detailing his findings, Strafach said that similar opt-out geolocation tracking behaviors have in the past caught the eye of the enforcement arm of the Federal Trade Commission.
