Everyone Knows Your Location ⇥ timsh.org

“Tim”:

Recently I read about a massive geolocation data leak from Gravy Analytics, which exposed more than 2000 apps, both in AppStore and Google Play, that secretly collect geolocation data without user consent. Oftentimes, even without developers` knowledge.

I looked into the list (link here) and found at least 3 apps I have installed on my iPhone. Take a look for yourself!

This made me come up with an idea to track myself down externally, e.g. to buy my geolocation data leaked by some application.

Unfortunately, it is very expensive for a typical person to buy this kind of data. Still, “Tim” spent some time dissecting the HTTPS requests from a single game. You probably will not be surprised by how much is revealed even with App Tracking Transparency preventing access to a user’s advertising identifier, yet it is quite something to see it all displayed like this.

I know advertising is an important revenue stream — often the only revenue stream — for many products and services. This, though, is not just advertising. It is a staggering abuse of trust happening all the time with — in many regions — almost no control or transparency. Absorbing or resharing this much private information should be criminal.