DIGITAL LIFE

There are (new) iOS and Android apps watching over what you're doing on the internet
AdGuard advertising blocking software investigated common links between various extensions of Chrome and Firefox internet browsers, as well as certain applications of iOS and Android smartphones, and found that the systems collect personal data from users.The suspicious joint links made the name Big Star Labs, which developed some apps and extensions to block website advertising, increase equipment performance, system cleanups, and battery optimization, as the Bleeping Computer website lists. AdGuard reports that installations have been made on about 11 million devices.The company is accused of collecting private information from users and lying on its privacy policy stating that it only collects non-personal or anonymous data. Your tools bring your browsing history together without making them anonymous, which may allow third parties to access your browsing habits and aspects of your life.AdGuard also mentions that certain company applications record all browsing history, rather than just pages that are blocked by the tool, a practice that runs counter to the policies of all app stores, but is still available to do download.The most serious, according to the investigation, is that the company is aware of what it is doing, trying to intentionally disguise the actions. An example of this is how the company identifies itself, with its documents containing its name in image form, and never in written format so it will not be searchable in the search engines. The same for texts related to privacy policies.Another practice during the installation of Android applications is the requirement for users to access the accessibility service, a widely used "gateway" for malware infection, although no malicious action has been detected.It should also be pointed out that their collection practice is against the recent RGPD rules by not asking users for explicit consent to collect private information.



Sapo