We are talking about privacy violation from Google. Apparently, the company does not stop track the data, or rather, collect them. A recent study by an Irish professor sheds light on what the Mountain View giant does via our devices via apps Google Phone and Google Messages. Some time ago Xiaomi, but not only, found himself with the spotlight on his head for this reason but perhaps the problem is not so much the single company as the one that guarantees the GMS services. Let's see the details.
Google collects data on calls and messages made by the smartphone. The privacy policy is not clear to you, but to others it must be transparent under penalty of large fines
According to a study by an Irish scientist, it was found that standard Android applications for making calls and text messages they collect a wide range of information about the user. In addition to the call history, the company's server stores user correspondence, but in form hash. At the same time, this data is collected without the explicit consent of the users.
The Irish researcher came to the conclusion that Google collects information about the time and duration of calls made, telephone numbers of subscribers and stores a call log. This data is transmitted via the registry service Clearcut of Google Play Services and the service Firebase Analytics.
The Phone and Messages apps do not adequately inform users about the privacy policy, while third-party developers are required to do so. In the description of the applications on Google Play, it provides only a link to a privacy policy common to all services. Of course, few people follow the link and study the rules in detail.
The study itself was conducted last fall and November the scientist informed Google of the results. He was contacted by the CTO of Google Messages and they discussed the details together. Of the 9 recommendations in the scientist's report, Google agreed to implement 6.
With updates coming, the company should stop data collection on the sender's phone number, do not keep a call log and allow users to refuse to collect a certain amount of data.
Through | The Register, 9to5Google
