Three quarters of Android apps track users with third party tools

Re:Three quarters of Android apps track users with third par... by thisisit on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @11:48AM (#15808274)

I wonder if there is a comparable study for iOS apps? Or are there iOS versions of "Tinder, Spotify, Uber and OKCupid" better than the Android counterparts.

> Both of these trackers have been profiled by Privacy Lab and can be identified by Exodus scans.

I have tried looking up Exodus but can't find any info. Anyone knows what this tool and how does it work?

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Re:Three quarters of Android apps track users with third par... by ickwabe on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @12:36PM (#15808898)

https://exodus-privacy.eu.org/

https://github.com/exodus-privacy/exodus

https://github.com/YalePrivacyLab/tracker-profiles

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Re:Three quarters of Android apps track users with third par... by GrayShade on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @12:55PM (#15809090)

Does anyone know why Firefox uses DoubleClick?

https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/reports/177/

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Re:Three quarters of Android apps track users with third par... by ickwabe on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @02:50PM (#15810226)

My suspicion is that this is a false-positive. If you go to about:config and search for doubleclick there is an entry called: browser.urlbar.doubleClickSelectsAll

Use is self-explanitory in the name.

This twitter thread indicates same:

https://twitter.com/rnewman/status/934861503630643204

Also, LeanPlum is explained here:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/send-usage-data-firefox...

Quote:

Firefox for Android, Firefox for iOS, Firefox Rocket and Firefox Focus collect data about installations and retention using a third-party tracking framework called Adjust and Leanplum. This helps Mozilla determine the origin of the installation by answering the question, "Did this user on this device install the application in response to a specific advertising campaign performed by Mozilla?"

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Re:Three quarters of Android apps track users with third par... by s73ver_ on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @12:39PM (#15808938)

Having worked in a few agencies and departments that do both iOS and Android apps, whenever possible, they want parity between the two. So if the Android app is doing it, odds are better than not that the iOS app is also doing it to the extent allowed by Apple.

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Re:Three quarters of Android apps track users with third par... by on_and_off on Wednesday November 29, 2017 @08:13PM (#15812523)

mobile dev here.

From my anecdotal experience I can tell you that whatever data we collect on Android we collect on iOS too (crashes, usage, etc) .

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