<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> <!-- Parent-Version:1.791.86 --> <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> <!-- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please do not edit <ul class="blurbs">! Instead, edit /proprietary/workshop/mal.rec, then regenerate pages. See explanations in /proprietary/workshop/README.md. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --> <title>Proprietary Surveillance - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="/proprietary/proprietary.css" media="screen,print" /> <style type="text/css"media="print,screen"><!-- .announcementmedia="screen,print"><!-- .pict {background: none;width: 18em; margin: 2em auto; }#surveillance div.toc.pict p {width: 24.5em; max-width: 94%; margin-bottom: 1em;font-size: .9em; } @media (min-width:48em) { #surveillance div.toc46em) {float: left; width: auto; max-width: 48%; margin: .2em 0 1em; } #surveillance .medium.pict { width:43%;18em; float: right; margin:7em.3em 0 1em1.5em;2em; } } --></style> <!-- GNUN: localize URL /graphics/dog.small.jpg --> <!--#include virtual="/proprietary/po/proprietary-surveillance.translist" --> <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --><h2>Proprietary<!--#include virtual="/proprietary/proprietary-menu.html" --> <div class="article"> <p class="edu-breadcrumb"> <a href="/proprietary/proprietary.html">Proprietary malware</a> → Surveillance</p> <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> <!--#if expr="$OUTDATED_SINCE" --><!--#else --> <!--#if expr="$LANGUAGE_SUFFIX" --> <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="no" --> <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> <!--#endif --> <!--#endif --> <h2 id="main-heading">Proprietary Surveillance</h2> <div id="about-dir"> <hr class="thin" /> <p>Nonfree (proprietary) software is very often malware (designed to mistreat the user). Nonfree software is controlled by its developers, which puts them in a position of power over the users; <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">that is the basic injustice</a>. The developers and manufacturers often exercise that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.</p><div class="announcement"><p>Thisdocument attempts to track <strong>clearly established cases of proprietary software that spies on or tracks users</strong>.</p> <p><a href="/proprietary/proprietary.html"> Other examplestypically takes the form ofproprietary malware</a></p>malicious functionalities.</p> <hr class="thin" /> </div> <divid="surveillance"> <div class="pict medium">id="surveillance" class="pict"> <a href="/graphics/dog.html"> <img src="/graphics/dog.small.jpg" alt="Cartoon of a dog, wondering at the three ads that popped up on his computer screen..." /></a> <p>“How did they find out I'm a dog?”</p> </div> <divclass="toc">id="about-page"> <p>A common malicious functionality is to snoop on the user. This page records <strong>clearly established cases of proprietary software that spies on or tracks users</strong>. Manufacturers even refuse to <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/19/smart-home-devices-hoard-data-government-demands/">say whether they snoop on users for the state</a>.</p> <p>All appliances and applications that are tethered to a specific server are snoopers by nature. We do not list them here because they have their own page: <a href="/proprietary/proprietary-tethers.html#about-page">Proprietary Tethers</a>.</p> </div> <div class="important" style="clear: both"> <p>If you know of an example that ought to be in this page but isn't here, please write to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a> to inform us. Please include the URL of a trustworthy reference or two to serve as specific substantiation.</p> </div> <div id="TOC"> <h3 id="TableOfContents">Table of Contents</h3><ul> <li><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></li> <li><a<h4><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></h4> <h4><a href="#OSSpyware">Spyware inOperating Systems</a>Laptops and Desktops</a></h4> <ul> <li><ahref="#SpywareInWindows">Spyware in Windows</a></li>href="#SpywareInWindows">Windows</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInMacOS">Spyware in MacOS</a></li>href="#SpywareInMacOS">MacOS</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInAndroid">Spyware in Android</a></li>href="#SpywareInBIOS">BIOS</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a<h4><a href="#SpywareOnMobiles">Spyware onMobiles</a>Mobiles</a></h4> <ul> <li><ahref="#SpywareIniThings">Spyware in iThings</a></li>href="#SpywareInTelephones">All “Smart” Phones</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInTelephones">Spyware in Telephones</a></li>href="#SpywareIniThings">iThings</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInMobileApps">Spyware in Mobile Applications</a></li>href="#SpywareInAndroid">Android Telephones</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInGames">Spywarehref="#SpywareInElectronicReaders">E-Readers</a></li> </ul> <h4><a href="#SpywareInApplications">Spyware inGames</a></li>Applications</a></h4> <ul> <li><ahref="#SpywareInToys">Spyware in Toys</a></li> </ul> </li>href="#SpywareInDesktopApps">Desktop Apps</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareAtLowLevel">Spyware at Low Level</a> <ul>href="#SpywareInMobileApps">Mobile Apps</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInBIOS">Spyware in BIOS</a></li> <!--href="#SpywareInSkype">Skype</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInFirmware">Spyware in Firmware</a></li> -->href="#SpywareInGames">Games</a></li> </ul></li> <li><a href="#SpywareAtWork">Spyware at Work</a><h4><a href="#SpywareInEquipment">Spyware in Connected Equipment</a></h4> <ul> <li><ahref="#SpywareInSkype">Spyware in Skype</a></li> </ul> </li>href="#SpywareInTVSets">TV Sets</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareOnTheRoad">Spyware on the Road</a> <ul>href="#SpywareInCameras">Cameras</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInCameras">Spyware in Cameras</a></li>href="#SpywareInToys">Toys</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInElectronicReaders">Spyware in e-Readers</a></li>href="#SpywareInDrones">Drones</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInVehicles">Spyware in Vehicles</a></li> </ul> </li>href="#SpywareAtHome">Other Appliances</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareAtHome">Spyware at Home</a>href="#SpywareOnWearables">Wearables</a> <ul> <li><ahref="#SpywareInTVSets">Spyware in TV Sets</a></li>href="#SpywareOnSmartWatches">“Smart” Watches</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><ahref="#SpywareAtPlay">Spyware at Play</a></li>href="#SpywareInVehicles">Vehicles</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInVR">Virtual Reality</a></li> </ul> <h4><a href="#SpywareOnTheWeb">Spyware on theWeb</a>Web</a></h4> <ul> <li><ahref="#SpywareInChrome">Spyware in Chrome</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInFlash">Spyware in Flash</a></li> </ul> </li>href="#SpywareInChrome">Chrome</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareEverywhere">Spyware Everywhere</a></li>href="#SpywareInJavaScript">JavaScript</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInVR">Spyware In VR</a></li>href="#SpywareInFlash">Flash</a></li> </ul> <h4><a href="#SpywareInNetworks">Spyware in Networks</a></h4> </div></div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <!-- #Introduction --><div class="big-section"> <h3 id="Introduction">Introduction</h3> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <p>For decades, the Free Software movement has been denouncing the abusive surveillance machine of <a href="/proprietary/proprietary.html">proprietary software</a> companies such as <a href="/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html">Microsoft</a> and <a href="/proprietary/malware-apple.html">Apple</a>. In the recent years, this tendency to watch people has spread across industries, not only in the software business, but also in the hardware. Moreover, it also spread dramatically away from the keyboard, in the mobile computing industry, in the office, at home, in transportation systems, and in the classroom.</p><h3<h4 id="AggregateInfoCollection">AggregateInformation Collection</h3>or anonymized data</h4> <p>Many companies, in their privacy policy, have a clause that claims they share aggregate, non-personally identifiable information with third parties/partners. Such claims are worthless, for several reasons:</p> <ul> <li>They could change the policy at any time.</li> <li>They can twist the words by distributing an “aggregate” of “anonymized” data which can be reidentified and attributed to individuals.</li> <li>The raw data they don't normally distribute can be taken by data breaches.</li> <li>The raw data they don't normally distribute can be taken by subpoena.</li> </ul> <p>Therefore, we mustnever pay any attention tonot be distracted by companies' statements of whatcompanies saythey will <em>do</em> with the data they collect. The wrong is that they collect it at all.</p><h3<h4 id="LatestAdditions">Latestadditions</h3> <p>Latest additionsadditions</h4> <p>Entries in each category arefoundin reverse chronological order, based ontop under each category.</p> <!-- #OSSpyware --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new itemsthe dates of publication of linked articles. The latest additions are listed ontop under each subsection -->the <a href="/proprietary/proprietary.html#latest">main page</a> of the Malware section.</p> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="OSSpyware">Spyware inOperating Systems</h3>Laptops and Desktops</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#OSSpyware">#OSSpyware</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInWindows">Spyware in Windows</h4>id="SpywareInWindows">Windows</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInWindows">#SpywareInWindows</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p>By<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201712110"> <p>HP's proprietary operating system <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42309371">includes a proprietary keyboard driver with a key logger in it</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201710134"> <p>Windows 10 telemetry program sends information to Microsoft about the user's computer and their use of the computer.</p> <p>Furthermore, for users who installed the fourth stable build of Windows 10, called the “Creators Update,” Windows maximized the surveillance <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/dutch-privacy-regulator-says-that-windows-10-breaks-the-law"> by force setting the telemetry mode to “Full”</a>.</p> <p>The <a href="https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/privacy/configure-windows-diagnostic-data-in-your-organization#full-level"> “Full” telemetry mode</a> allows Microsoft Windows engineers to access, among other things, registry keys <a href="https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc939702.aspx">which can contain sensitive information like administrator's login password</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201702020"> <p>DRM-restricted files can be used to <a href="https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/02/02/231229/windows-drm-protected-files-used-to-decloak-tor-browser-users"> identify people browsing through Tor</a>. The vulnerability exists only if you use Windows.</p> </li> <li id="M201611240"> <p>By default, Windows 10 <a href="http://betanews.com/2016/11/24/microsoft-shares-windows-10-telemetry-data-with-third-parties">sends debugging information to Microsoft, including core dumps</a>. Microsoft now distributes them to anothercompany.</p></li> <li><p>Some portable phones <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kryptowire-discovered-mobile-phone-firmware-that-transmitted-personally-identifiable-information-pii-without-user-consent-or-disclosure-300362844.html">are sold with spyware sending lots of data to China</a>.</p></li> <li>Incompany.</p> </li> <li id="M201608170.1"> <p>In order to increase Windows 10's install base, Microsoft <a class="not-a-duplicate" href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/08/windows-10-microsoft-blatantly-disregards-user-choice-and-privacy-deep-dive"> blatantly disregards user choice andprivacy</a>.privacy</a>.</p> </li><li><p><a<li id="M201603170"> <p><a href="https://duo.com/blog/bring-your-own-dilemma-oem-laptops-and-windows-10-security"> Windows 10 comes with 13 screens of snooping options</a>, all enabled by default, and turning them off would be daunting to mostusers.</p></li> <li><p><a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/12/28/recently-bought-a-windows-computer-microsoft-probably-has-your-encryption-key/"> Microsoft has already backdoored its disk encryption</a>.</p></li> <li>Itusers.</p> </li> <li id="M201601050"> <p>It appears <a href="http://www.ghacks.net/2016/01/05/microsoft-may-be-collecting-more-data-than-initially-thought/"> Windows 10 sends data to Microsoft about what applications arerunning</a>.</li> <li><p>Arunning</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201512280"> <p>Microsoft has <a href="https://theintercept.com/2015/12/28/recently-bought-a-windows-computer-microsoft-probably-has-your-encryption-key/"> backdoored its disk encryption</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201511264"> <p>A downgrade to Windows 10 deleted surveillance-detection applications. Then another downgrade inserted a general spying program. Users noticed this and complained, so Microsoft renamed it <ahref="https://web.archive.org/web/20160407082751/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/26/microsoft_renamed_data_slurper_reinserted_windows_10/">href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/26/microsoft_renamed_data_slurper_reinserted_windows_10/"> to give users the impression it was gone</a>.</p> <p>To use proprietary software is to invite such treatment.</p> </li><li><p><li id="M201508180"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150905163414/http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/134954-cortana-is-always-listening-with-new-wake-on-voice-tech-even-when-windows-10-is-sleeping"> Intel devices will be able to listen for speech all the time, even when “off.”</a></p> </li> <li id="M201508130"> <p><a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/"> Windows 10 sends identifiable information to Microsoft</a>, even if a user turns off its Bing search and Cortana features, and activates the privacy-protection settings.</p> </li> <li id="M201507300"> <p>Windows 10 <ahref="https://web.archive.org/web/20151001035410/https://jonathan.porta.codes/2015/07/30/windows-10-seems-to-have-some-scary-privacy-defaults/">href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180923125732/https://jonathan.porta.codes/2015/07/30/windows-10-seems-to-have-some-scary-privacy-defaults/"> ships with default settings that show no regard for the privacy of its users</a>, giving Microsoft the “right” to snoop on the users' files, text input, voice input, location info, contacts, calendar records and web browsing history, as well as automatically connecting the machines to open hotspots and showing targetedads.</p></li> <li><p> <a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/08/even-when-told-not-to-windows-10-just-cant-stop-talking-to-microsoft/"> Windows 10 sends identifiable information to Microsoft</a>, even if a user turns off its Bing search and Cortana features, and activates the privacy-protection settings.</p></li> <li><p>ads.</p> <p>We can suppose Microsoft look at users' files for the US government on demand, though the “privacy policy” does not explicitly say so. Will it look at users' files for the Chinese government on demand?</p> </li> <li id="M201506170"> <p>Microsoft uses Windows 10's “privacy policy” to overtly impose a “right” to look at users' files at any time. Windows 10 full disk encryption <a href="https://edri.org/microsofts-new-small-print-how-your-personal-data-abused/"> gives Microsoft a key</a>.</p> <p>Thus, Windows is overt malware in regard to surveillance, as in other issues.</p> <p>We can suppose Microsoft look at users' files for the US government on demand, though the “privacy policy” does not explicit say so. Will it look at users' files for the Chinese government on demand?</p> <p>The unique “advertising ID” for each user enables other companies to track the browsing of each specific user.</p> <p>It's as if Microsoft has deliberately chosen to make Windows 10 maximally evil on every dimension; to make a grab for total power over anyone that doesn't drop Windowsnow.</p></li> <li><p>Itnow.</p> </li> <li id="M201410040"> <p>It only gets worse with time. <a href="http://www.techworm.net/2014/10/microsofts-windows-10-permission-watch-every-move.html"> Windows 10 requires users to give permission for total snooping</a>, including their files, their commands, their text input, and their voice input.</p> </li><li><p><a href="http://www.infoworld.com/article/2611451/microsoft-windows/a-look-at-the-black-underbelly-of-windows-8-1--blue-.html"><li id="M201401150"> <p id="baidu-ime"><a href="https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/asian-technology/japanese-government-warns-baidu-ime-is-spying-on-users/"> Baidu's Japanese-input and Chinese-input apps spy on users</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201307080"> <p>Spyware in older versions of Windows: <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/28/windows_update_keeps_tabs/"> Windows Update snoops on the user</a>. <a href="https://www.infoworld.com/article/2611451/a-look-at-the-black-underbelly-of-windows-8-1--blue-.html"> Windows 8.1 snoops on localsearches.</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Andsearches</a>. And there's a <a href="http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article40836.html"> secret NSA key in Windows</a>, whose functions we don't know.</p> </li> </ul> <p>Microsoft's snooping on users did not start with Windows 10. There's a lot more <a href="/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html"> Microsoft malware</a>.</p> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInMacOS">Spyware in MacOS</h4>id="SpywareInMacOS">MacOS</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInMacOS">#SpywareInMacOS</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/10/30/how-one-mans-private-files-ended-up-on-apples-icloud-without-his-consent/"><ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201809070"> <p>Adware Doctor, an ad blocker for MacOS, <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wjye8x/mac-anti-adware-doctor-app-steals-browsing-history">reports the user's browsing history</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201411040"> <p>Apple has made various <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/04/apple-data-privacy-icloud"> MacOSautomatically sends to Apple servers unsaved documents being edited</a>. The <a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/10/apple_copies_yo.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter/"> things you have not decided to save are even more sensitive than the things you have stored in files</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Apple has made various <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/04/apple-data-privacy-icloud"> MacOS programs send filesprograms send files to Apple servers without asking permission</a>. This exposes the files to Big Brother and perhaps to other snoops.</p> <p>It also demonstrates how you can't trust proprietary software, because even if today's version doesn't have a malicious functionality, tomorrow's version might add it. The developer won't remove the malfeature unless many users push back hard, and the users can't remove it themselves.</p> </li><li><p>Various operations in <a href="http://lifehacker.com/safari-and-spotlight-can-send-data-to-apple-heres-how-1648453540"> the latest<li id="M201410300"> <p> MacOSsend reportsautomatically <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170831144456/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2014/10/30/how-one-mans-private-files-ended-up-on-apples-icloud-without-his-consent/"> sends toApple</a> servers.</p>Apple servers unsaved documents being edited</a>. The things you have not decided to save are <a href="https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/10/apple_copies_yo.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter/"> even more sensitive</a> than the things you have stored in files.</p> </li><li><p>Apple<li id="M201410220"> <p>Apple admits the <a href="http://www.intego.com/mac-security-blog/spotlight-suggestions-in-os-x-yosemite-and-ios-are-you-staying-private/"> spying in a search facility</a>, but there's a lot <a href="https://github.com/fix-macosx/yosemite-phone-home"> more snooping that Apple has not talked about</a>.</p> </li><li><p><a<li id="M201410200"> <p>Various operations in <a href="http://lifehacker.com/safari-and-spotlight-can-send-data-to-apple-heres-how-1648453540"> the latest MacOS send reports to Apple</a> servers.</p> </li> <li id="M201401100.1"> <p><a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/privacy-advocates-worry-over-new-apple-iphone-tracking-feature-161836223.html"> Spotlight search</a> sends users' search terms to Apple.</p> </li> </ul> <p>There's a lot more <a href="#SpywareIniThings">iThing spyware</a>, and <a href="/proprietary/malware-apple.html">Apple malware</a>.</p> <div class="big-subsection"> <span id="SpywareAtLowLevel"></span> <h4id="SpywareInAndroid">Spyware in Android</h4>id="SpywareInBIOS">BIOS</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInAndroid">#SpywareInAndroid</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInBIOS">#SpywareInBIOS</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p>More than 73% of<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201509220"> <p><a href="https://www.computerworld.com/article/2984889/lenovo-collects-usage-data-on-thinkpad-thinkcentre-and-thinkstation-pcs.html"> Lenovo stealthily installed crapware and spyware via BIOS</a> on Windows installs. Note that themost popular Android appsspecific sabotage method Lenovo used did not affect GNU/Linux; also, a “clean” Windows install is not really clean since <ahref="http://jots.pub/a/2015103001/index.php">share personal, behavioral and location information</a> of their users with third parties.</p>href="/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html">Microsoft puts in its own malware</a>.</p> </li><li><p>“Cryptic communication,” unrelated</ul> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareOnMobiles">Spyware on Mobiles</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareOnMobiles">#SpywareOnMobiles</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInTelephones">All “Smart” Phones</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInTelephones">#SpywareInTelephones</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201601110"> <p>The natural extension of monitoring people through “their” phones is <a href="http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2016/01/fool-activity-tracker.html"> proprietary software to make sure they can't “fool” theapp's functionality, wasmonitoring</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201510050"> <p>According to Edward Snowden, <ahref="http://news.mit.edu/2015/data-transferred-android-apps-hiding-1119"> found inhref="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34444233">agencies can take over smartphones</a> by sending hidden text messages which enable them to turn the500 most popular gratis Android apps</a>.</p> <p>The article should not have described these apps as “free”—they are not free software. The clear wayphones on and off, listen tosay “zero price” is “gratis.”</p> <p>The article takes for granted thattheusual analytics tools are legitimate, butmicrophone, retrieve geo-location data from the GPS, take photographs, read text messages, read call, location and web browsing history, and read the contact list. This malware isthat valid? Software developers have no rightdesigned toanalyze what users are doing or how. “Analytics” tools that snoop are just as wrong as any other snooping.</p>disguise itself from investigation.</p> </li><li><p>Gratis Android apps (but<li id="M201311120"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180816030205/http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/privacy-scandal-nsa-can-spy-on-smart-phone-data-a-920971.html"> The NSA can tap data in smart phones, including iPhones, Android, and BlackBerry</a>. While there is not much detail here, it seems that this does not operate via the universal back door that we know nearly all portable phones have. It may involve exploiting various bugs. There are <ahref="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>) connect to 100 <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/06/free-android-apps-connect-tracking-advertising-websites">tracking and advertising</a> URLs, onhref="http://www.osnews.com/story/27416/The_second_operating_system_hiding_in_every_mobile_phone"> lots of bugs in theaverage.</p>phones' radio software</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Spyware is present in some Android devices when they are sold. Some Motorola<li id="M201307000"> <p>Portable phonesmodify Android towith GPS <ahref="http://www.beneaththewaves.net/Projects/Motorola_Is_Listening.html">href="http://www.aclu.org/government-location-tracking-cell-phones-gps-devices-and-license-plate-readers"> will sendpersonal data to Motorola</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Some manufacturers add a <a href="http://androidsecuritytest.com/features/logs-and-services/loggers/carrieriq/"> hidden general surveillance package such as Carrier IQ.</a></p> </li> <li><p><a href="/proprietary/proprietary-back-doors.html#samsung"> Samsung's back door</a> provides access to any filetheir GPS location onthe system.</p>remote command, and users cannot stop them</a>. (The US says it will eventually require all new portable phones to have GPS.)</p> </li> </ul><!-- #SpywareOnMobiles --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareOnMobiles">Spyware on Mobiles</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareOnMobiles">#SpywareOnMobiles</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div><div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareIniThings">Spyware in iThings</h4>id="SpywareIniThings">iThings</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareIniThings">#SpywareIniThings</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p>iPhones<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201910131"> <p>Safari occasionally <ahref="https://theintercept.com/2016/11/17/iphones-secretly-send-call-history-to-apple-security-firm-says">send lots of personalhref="https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2019/10/13/dear-apple-safe-browsing-might-not-be-that-safe/"> sends browsing datato Apple's servers</a>. Big Brother can get themfromthere.</p> </li> <li><p>The iMessage app on iThings <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28/apple-logs-your-imessage-contacts-and-may-share-them-with-police/">tells a server every phone numberApple devices in China to the Tencent Safe Browsing service</a>, to check URLs that possibly correspond to “fraudulent” websites. Since Tencent collaborates with theuser types into it</a>;Chinese government, its Safe Browsing black list most certainly contains theserver records these numbers for at least 30 days.</p>websites of political opponents. By linking the requests originating from single IP addresses, the government can identify dissenters in China and Hong Kong, thus endangering their lives.</p> </li><li><p>Users cannot make an Apple ID<li id="M201905280"> <p>In spite of Apple's supposed commitment to privacy, iPhone apps contain trackers that are busy at night <ahref="http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/49951/how-can-i-download-free-apps-without-registering-an-apple-idcool">(necessaryhref="https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/2019/05/its-3-am-do-you-know-who-your-iphone-is-talking-to.html"> sending users' personal information toinstall even gratis apps)</a> without giving a validthird parties</a>.</p> <p>The article mentions specific examples: Microsoft OneDrive, Intuit’s Mint, Nike, Spotify, The Washington Post, The Weather Channel (owned by IBM), the crime-alert service Citizen, Yelp and DoorDash. But it is likely that most nonfree apps contain trackers. Some of these send personally identifying data such as phone fingerprint, exact location, email address, phone number or even delivery address (in the case of DoorDash). Once this information is collected by the company, there is no telling what it will be used for.</p> </li> <li id="M201711250"> <p>The DMCA andreceivingthecodeEU Copyright Directive make it <a href="https://boingboing.net/2017/11/25/la-la-la-cant-hear-you.html"> illegal to study how iOS cr…apps spy on users</a>, because this would require circumventing the iOS DRM.</p> </li> <li id="M201709210"> <p>In the latest iThings system, “turning off” WiFi and Bluetooth the obvious way <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/21/ios-11-apple-toggling-wifi-bluetooth-control-centre-doesnt-turn-them-off"> doesn't really turn them off</a>. A more advanced way really does turn them off—only until 5am. That's Applesendsfor you—“We know you want toit.</p>be spied on”.</p> </li><li><p>Around 47% of<li id="M201702150"> <p>Apple proposes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/15/apple-removing-iphone-home-button-fingerprint-scanning-screen">a fingerprint-scanning touch screen</a>—which would mean no way to use it without having your fingerprints taken. Users would have no way to tell whether themost popular iOS appsphone is snooping on them.</p> </li> <li id="M201611170"> <p>iPhones <ahref="http://jots.pub/a/2015103001/index.php">share personal, behavioral and location information</a>href="https://theintercept.com/2016/11/17/iphones-secretly-send-call-history-to-apple-security-firm-says/">send lots oftheir users with third parties.</p>personal data to Apple's servers</a>. Big Brother can get them from there.</p> </li> <li id="M201609280"> <p>The iMessage app on iThings <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28/apple-logs-your-imessage-contacts-and-may-share-them-with-police/">tells a server every phone number that the user types into it</a>; the server records these numbers for at least 30 days.</p> </li><li><p>iThings<li id="M201509240"> <p>iThings automatically upload to Apple's servers all the photos and videos they make.</p> <blockquote><p> iCloud Photo Library stores every photo and video you take, and keeps them up to date on all your devices. Any edits you make are automatically updated everywhere.[...][…] </p></blockquote> <p>(From <a href="https://www.apple.com/icloud/photos/">Apple's iCloud information</a> as accessed on 24 Sep 2015.) The iCloud feature is <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202033">activated by the startup of iOS</a>. The term “cloud” means “please don't ask where.”</p> <p>There is a way to <a href="https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201104"> deactivate iCloud</a>, but it's active by default so it still counts as a surveillance functionality.</p> <p>Unknown people apparently took advantage of this to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/01/naked-celebrity-hack-icloud-backup-jennifer-lawrence">get nude photos of many celebrities</a>. They needed to break Apple's security to get at them, but NSA can access any of them through <ahref="/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html#digitalcash">PRISM</a>. </p></li> <li><p>Spyware in iThings: the <a href="http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/privacy-advocates-worry-over-new-apple-iphone-tracking-feature-161836223.html"> iBeacon</a> lets stores determine exactly where the iThing is, and get other info too.</p>href="/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html#digitalcash">PRISM</a>.</p> </li><li><p>There is also a feature for web sites to track users, which is <a href="http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/10/17/how-to-disable-apple-ios-user-tracking-ios-6/"> enabled by default</a>. (That article talks about iOS 6, but it is still true in iOS 7.)</p> </li> <li><p>The iThing also <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160313215042/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/08/ios7_tracking_now_its_a_favourite_feature/"> tells Apple its geolocation</a> by default, though that can be turned off.</p> </li> <li><p>Apple can, and regularly does,<li id="M201409220"> <p>Apple can, and regularly does, <a href="http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/05/new-guidelines-outline-what-iphone-data-apple-can-give-to-police/"> remotely extract some data from iPhones for the state</a>.</p></li> <li><p><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-30/how-nsa-hacks-your-iphone-presenting-dropout-jeep"> Either<p>This may have improved with <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2014/09/17/apple-will-no-longer-unlock-most-iphones-ipads-for-police/"> iOS 8 security improvements</a>; but <a href="https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2014/09/22/apple-data/"> not as much as Applehelps the NSA snoop on all the data in an iThing, or it is totally incompetent.</a></p>claims</a>.</p> </li><li><p><a<li id="M201407230"> <p><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/23/iphone-backdoors-surveillance-forensic-services"> Several “features” of iOS seem to exist for no possible purpose other than surveillance</a>. Here is the <a href="http://www.zdziarski.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/iOS_Backdoors_Attack_Points_Surveillance_Mechanisms_Moved.pdf"> Technical presentation</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201401100"> <p>The <a class="not-a-duplicate" href="http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/privacy-advocates-worry-over-new-apple-iphone-tracking-feature-161836223.html"> iBeacon</a> lets stores determine exactly where the iThing is, and get other info too.</p> </li> <li id="M201312300"> <p><a href="http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-12-30/how-nsa-hacks-your-iphone-presenting-dropout-jeep"> Either Apple helps the NSA snoop on all the data in an iThing, or it is totally incompetent</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201308080"> <p>The iThing also <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/08/08/ios7_tracking_now_its_a_favourite_feature/"> tells Apple its geolocation</a> by default, though that can be turned off.</p> </li> <li id="M201210170"> <p>There is also a feature for web sites to track users, which is <a href="http://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2012/10/17/how-to-disable-apple-ios-user-tracking-ios-6/"> enabled by default</a>. (That article talks about iOS 6, but it is still true in iOS 7.)</p> </li> <li id="M201204280"> <p>Users cannot make an Apple ID (<a href="https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/49951/how-can-i-download-free-apps-without-registering-an-apple-id">necessary to install even gratis apps</a>) without giving a valid email address and receiving the verification code Apple sends to it.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInTelephones">Spyware inid="SpywareInAndroid">Android Telephones</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInTelephones">#SpywareInTelephones</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInAndroid">#SpywareInAndroid</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p>According<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201812060"> <p>Facebook's app got “consent” toEdward Snowden,<ahref="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34444233">agencies can take over smartphones</a> by sending hidden text messages which enable them to turnhref="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/dec/06/facebook-emails-reveal-discussions-over-call-log-consent"> upload call logs automatically from Android phones</a> while disguising what thephones on and off, listen“consent” was for.</p> </li> <li id="M201811230"> <p>An Android phone was observed to track location even while in airplane mode. It didn't send themicrophone, retrieve geo-locationlocation datafromwhile in airplane mode. Instead, <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/tech/7811918/google-is-tracking-you-even-with-airplane-mode-turned-on/"> it saved up theGPS, take photographs, read text messages, read call, location and web browsing history,data, andread the contact list. This malware is designed to disguisesent them all later</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201711210"> <p>Android tracks location for Google <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20171121/09030238658/investigation-finds-google-collected-location-data-even-with-location-services-turned-off.shtml"> even when “location services” are turned off, even when the phone has no SIM card</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201611150"> <p>Some portable phones <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kryptowire-discovered-mobile-phone-firmware-that-transmitted-personally-identifiable-information-pii-without-user-consent-or-disclosure-300362844.html">are sold with spyware sending lots of data to China</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201609140"> <p>Google Play (a component of Android) <a href="https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/235594-yes-google-play-is-tracking-you-and-thats-just-the-tip-of-a-very-large-iceberg"> tracks the users' movements without their permission</a>.</p> <p>Even if you disable Google Maps and location tracking, you must disable Google Play itselffrom investigation.</p>to completely stop the tracking. This is yet another example of nonfree software pretending to obey the user, when it's actually doing something else. Such a thing would be almost unthinkable with free software.</p> </li><li><p>Samsung<li id="M201507030"> <p>Samsung phones come with <a href="http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/07/samsung-sued-for-loading-devices-with-unremovable-crapware-in-china/">apps that users can't delete</a>, and they send so much data that their transmission is a substantial expense for users. Said transmission, not wanted or requested by the user, clearly must constitute spying of somekind.</p></li> <li><p>A Motorola phone <a href="http://www.itproportal.com/2013/07/25/motorolas-new-x8-arm-chip-underpinning-the-always-on-future-of-android/"> listens for voice allkind.</p> </li> <li id="M201403120"> <p><a href="/proprietary/proprietary-back-doors.html#samsung"> Samsung's back door</a> provides access to any file on thetime</a>.</p>system.</p> </li><li><p>Spyware<li id="M201308010"> <p>Spyware in Android phones (and Windows? laptops): The Wall Street Journal (in an article blocked from us by a paywall) reports that <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/1/4580718/fbi-can-remotely-activate-android-and-laptop-microphones-reports-wsj"> the FBI can remotely activate the GPS and microphone in Android phones andlaptops</a>. (I suspect this meanslaptops</a> (presumably Windowslaptops.)laptops). Here is <a href="http://cryptome.org/2013/08/fbi-hackers.htm">more info</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Portable phones with GPS will send their GPS location on remote command and users cannot stop them: <a href="http://www.aclu.org/government-location-tracking-cell-phones-gps-devices-and-license-plate-readers"> http://www.aclu.org/government-location-tracking-cell-phones-gps-devices-and-license-plate-readers</a>. (The US says it will eventually require all new portable phones to have GPS.)</p> </li> <li><p>The nonfree Snapchat app's principal purpose<li id="M201307280"> <p>Spyware isto restrict thepresent in some Android devices when they are sold. Some Motorola phones, made when this company was owned by Google, use a modified version ofdata on the user's computer, but it does surveillance too:Android that <ahref="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/27/snapchat-may-be-exposed-hackers"> it trieshref="http://www.beneaththewaves.net/Projects/Motorola_Is_Listening.html"> sends personal data toget the user's list of other people's phone numbers.</a></p>Motorola</a>.</p> </li></ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInMobileApps">Spyware in Mobile Applications</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInMobileApps">#SpywareInMobileApps</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>The Uber app tracks<li id="M201307250"> <p>A Motorola phone <ahref="https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/28/uber-background-location-data-collection/">clients' movements before and after the ride</a>.</p> <p>This example illustrates how “getting the user's consent”href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170629175629/http://www.itproportal.com/2013/07/25/motorolas-new-x8-arm-chip-underpinning-the-always-on-future-of-android/"> listens forsurveillance is inadequate as a protection against massive surveillance.</p> </li> <li><p>Google's newvoicemessaging app <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/21/12994362/allo-privacy-message-logs-google">logsallconversations</a>.</p>the time</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Apps that include<li id="M201302150"> <p>Google Play intentionally sends app developers <ahref="http://techaeris.com/2016/01/13/symphony-advanced-media-software-tracks-your-digital-life-through-your-smartphone-mic/"> Symphony surveillance software snoop on what radio and TV programs are playing nearby</a>. Also on what users post on various sites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.</p> </li> <li><p>Facebook's new Magic Photo app <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160605165148/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/10/facebook_scans_camera_for_your_friends/"> scans your mobile phone's photo collections for known faces</a>, and suggests you to share the picture you take according to who is inhref="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-play-store-policy-raises-privacy-concerns-331116"> theframe.</p> <p>This spyware feature seems to require online access to some known-faces database, which meanspersonal details of users that install thepictures are likely to be sent acrossapp</a>.</p> <p>Merely asking thewire to Facebook's servers and face-recognition algorithms.</p> <p>If so, none“consent” ofFacebook users' pictures are private anymore, even if the user didn't “upload” themusers is not enough tothe service.</p> </li> <li><p>Likelegitimize actions like this. At this point, most“music screaming” disservices, Spotify is based on proprietary malware (DRM and snooping). In August 2015 it <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/21/spotify-faces-user-backlash-over-new-privacy-policy"> demandeduserssubmit to increased snooping</a>, and some are starting to realize that it is nasty.</p> <p>This article showshave stopped reading the<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160313214751/http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/21/spotify_worse_than_the_nsa/"> twisted ways“Terms and Conditions” that spell out what theypresent snooping as a way to “serve” users better</a>—never mind whether they want that. This is a typical example ofare “consenting” to. Google should clearly and honestly identify theattitudeinformation it collects on users, instead ofthe proprietary software industry towards those they have subjugated.</p> <p>Out, out, damned Spotify!</p> </li> <li><p>Many proprietary apps for mobile devices report whichhiding it in an obscurely worded EULA.</p> <p>However, to truly protect people's privacy, we must prevent Google and otherapps the user has installed. <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/26/twitter-app-graph/">Twitter is doingcompanies from getting this personal information ina way that at least is visible and optional</a>. Not as bad as whattheothers do.</p>first place!</p> </li><li><p>FTC says most mobile apps for children don't respect privacy:<li id="M201111170"> <p>Some manufacturers add a <ahref="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/12/ftc-disclosures-severely-lacking-in-kids-mobile-appsand-its-getting-worse/"> http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/12/ftc-disclosures-severely-lacking-in-kids-mobile-appsand-its-getting-worse/</a>.</p>href="http://androidsecuritytest.com/features/logs-and-services/loggers/carrieriq/"> hidden general surveillance package such as Carrier IQ</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Widely used</ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInElectronicReaders">E-Readers</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInElectronicReaders">#SpywareInElectronicReaders</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201603080"> <p>E-books can contain JavaScript code, and <ahref="https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/kollarssmith/scan-this-or-scan-me-user-privacy-barcode-scanning-applications/">proprietary QR-code scanner apps snoophref="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/08/men-make-up-their-minds-about-books-faster-than-women-study-finds"> sometimes this code snoops on readers</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201410080"> <p>Adobe made “Digital Editions,” theuser</a>. This is in addition to the snooping done by the phone company, and perhaps by the OS in the phone.</p> <p>Don't be distractede-reader used bythe questionmost US libraries, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20141220181015/http://www.computerworlduk.com/blogs/open-enterprise/drm-strikes-again-3575860/"> send lots ofwhether the app developers get usersdata tosay “I agree”. That is no excuse for malware.</p>Adobe</a>. Adobe's “excuse”: it's needed to check DRM!</p> </li><li><p>The Brightest Flashlight app<li id="M201212030"> <p>Spyware in many e-readers—not only the Kindle: <ahref="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/06/android-app-50m-downloads-sent-data-advertisers"> sendshref="https://www.eff.org/pages/reader-privacy-chart-2012"> they report even which page the userdata, including geolocation, for use by companies.</a></p>reads at what time</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareInApplications">Spyware in Applications</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInApplications">#SpywareInApplications</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInDesktopApps">Desktop Apps</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInDesktopApps">#SpywareInDesktopApps</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201811020"> <p>Foundry's graphics software <a href="https://torrentfreak.com/software-company-fines-pirates-after-monitoring-their-computers-181102/"> reports information to identify who is running it</a>. The result is often a legal threat demanding a lot of money.</p> <p>TheFTC criticizedfact that thisapp becauseis used for repression of forbidden sharing makes itasked the user to approve sending personal data to the app developer but dideven more vicious.</p> <p>This illustrates that making unauthorized copies of nonfree software is notask about sending it to other companies. This showsa cure for theweaknessinjustice of nonfree software. It may avoid paying for thereject-it-if-you-dislike-snooping “solution” to surveillance: why should a flashlight app send any information to anyone? A free software flashlight app would not.</p>nasty thing, but cannot make it less nasty.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInGames">Spyware in Games</h4>id="SpywareInMobileApps">Mobile Apps</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInGames">#SpywareInGames</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInMobileApps">#SpywareInMobileApps</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p>nVidia's proprietary GeForce Experience <a href="http://www.gamersnexus.net/industry/2672-geforce-experience-data-transfer-analysis">makes<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201910130"> <p>The Chinese Communist Party's “Study the Great Nation” app requires usersidentify themselves and then sends personal data about themtonVidia servers</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Angry Birdsgrant it <ahref="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/world/spy-agencies-scour-phone-apps-for-personal-data.html"> spies for companies, and the NSA takes advantagehref="https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/chinese-app-allows-officials-access-to-100-million-users-phone-report-2115962"> access tospy through it too</a>. Here's information on <a href="http://confabulator.blogspot.com/2012/11/analysis-of-what-information-angry.html"> more spyware apps</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/spy-agencies-probe-angry-birds-and-other-apps-for-personal-data"> More about NSA app spying</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInToys">Spywarethe phone's microphone, photos, text messages, contacts, and internet history</a>, and the Android version was found to contain a back-door allowing developers to run any code they wish inToys</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInToys">#SpywareInToys</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>A company that makes internet-controlled vibratorsthe users' phone, as “superusers.” Downloading and using this app is mandatory at some workplaces.</p> <p>Note: The <ahref="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/14/wevibe-sex-toy-data-collection-chicago-lawsuit">is being sued for collecting lotshref="http://web-old.archive.org/web/20191015005153/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-app-on-xis-ideology-allows-data-access-to-100-million-users-phones-report-says/2019/10/11/2d53bbae-eb4d-11e9-bafb-da248f8d5734_story.html"> Washington Post version ofpersonal information about how people use it</a>.</p> <p>The company's statement that it anonymizesthedata may be true,article</a> (partly obfuscated, butit doesn't really matter. If it sells the data toreadable after copy-pasting in adata broker,text editor) includes a clarification saying that thedata broker can figure out whotests were only performed on theuser is.</p>Android version of the app, and that, according to Apple, “this kind of ‘superuser’ surveillance could not be conducted on Apple's operating system.”</p> </li><li><p>A computerized vibrator<li id="M201909091"> <p>The Facebook app <ahref="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/10/vibrator-phone-app-we-vibe-4-plus-bluetooth-hack">snoops on itshref="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/tech/talkingtech/2019/09/09/facebook-app-social-network-tracking-your-every-move/2270305001/"> tracks usersthrougheven when it is turned off</a>, after tricking them into giving theproprietary control app</a>.</p> <p>Theappreports the temperaturebroad permissions in order to use one ofthe vibrator minute by minute (thus, indirectly, whether itits functionalities.</p> </li> <li id="M201909090"> <p>Some nonfree period-tracking apps including MIA Fem and Maya <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/period-tracker-apps-facebook-maya-mia-fem"> send intimate details of users' lives to Facebook</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201909060"> <p>Keeping track of who downloads a proprietary program issurrounded byaperson's body), andform of surveillance. There is a proprietary program for adjusting a certain telescopic rifle sight. <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2019/09/06/exclusive-feds-demand-apple-and-google-hand-over-names-of-10000-users-of-a-gun-scope-app/"> A US prosecutor has demanded thevibration frequency.</p> <p>Notelist of all thetotally inadequate proposed response:10,000 or more people who have installed it</a>.</p> <p>With alabeling standard with which manufacturers would make statements about their products, rather thanfreesoftware which users can check and change.</p>program there would not be a list of who has installed it.</p> </li><li><p>Barbie<li id="M201907081"> <p>Many unscrupulous mobile-app developers keep finding ways to <ahref="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/wi-fi-spy-barbie-records-childrens-5177673">ishref="https://www.cnet.com/news/more-than-1000-android-apps-harvest-your-data-even-after-you-deny-permissions/"> bypass user's settings</a>, regulations, and privacy-enhancing features of the operating system, in order to gather as much private data as they possibly can.</p> <p>Thus, we can't trust rules against spying. What we can trust is having control over the software we run.</p> </li> <li id="M201907080"> <p>Many Android apps can track users' movements even when the user says <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/7/8/20686514/android-covert-channel-permissions-data-collection-imei-ssid-location"> not to allow them access to locations</a>.</p> <p>This involves an apparently unintentional weakness in Android, exploited intentionally by malicious apps.</p> </li> <li id="M201905300"> <p>The Femm “fertility” app is secretly a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/30/revealed-womens-fertility-app-is-funded-by-anti-abortion-campaigners"> tool for propaganda</a> by natalist Christians. It spreads distrust for contraception.</p> <p>It snoops on users, too, as you must expect from nonfree programs.</p> </li> <li id="M201905060"> <p>BlizzCon 2019 imposed a <a href="https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/05/blizzcon-2019-tickets-revolve-around-invasive-poorly-reviewed-smartphone-app/"> requirement to run a proprietary phone app</a> to be allowed into the event.</p> <p>This app is a spyware that can snoop on a lot of sensitive data, including user's location and contact list, and has <a href="https://old.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/bkd5ew/you_need_to_have_a_phone_to_attend_blizzcon_this/emg38xv/"> near-complete control</a> over the phone.</p> </li> <li id="M201904131"> <p>Data collected by menstrual and pregnancy monitoring apps is often <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/13/theres-a-dark-side-to-womens-health-apps-menstrual-surveillance"> available to employers and insurance companies</a>. Even though the data is “anonymized and aggregated,” it can easily be traced back to the woman who uses the app.</p> <p>This has harmful implications for women's rights to equal employment and freedom to make their own pregnancy choices. Don't use these apps, even if someone offers you a reward to do so. A free-software app that does more or less the same thing without spying on you is available from <a href="https://search.f-droid.org/?q=menstr">F-Droid</a>, and <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2019-04-10/building-a-better-period-tracking-app-podcast"> a new one is being developed</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201904130"> <p>Google tracks the movements of Android phones and iPhones running Goggle apps, and sometimes <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/13/us/google-location-tracking-police.html"> saves the data for years</a>.</p> <p>Nonfree software in the phone has to be responsible for sending the location data to Google.</p> </li> <li id="M201903251"> <p>Many Android phones come with a huge number of <a href="https://elpais.com/elpais/2019/03/22/inenglish/1553244778_819882.html"> preinstalled nonfree apps that have access to sensitive data without users' knowledge</a>. These hidden apps may either call home with the data, or pass it on to user-installed apps that have access to the network but no direct access to the data. This results in massive surveillance on which the user has absolutely no control.</p> </li> <li id="M201903201"> <p>A study of 24 “health” apps found that 19 of them <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pan9e8/health-apps-can-share-your-data-everywhere-new-study-shows"> send sensitive personal data to third parties</a>, which can use it for invasive advertising or discriminating against people in poor medical condition.</p> <p>Whenever user “consent” is sought, it is buried in lengthy terms of service that are difficult to understand. In any case, “consent” is not sufficient to legitimize snooping.</p> </li> <li id="M201902230"> <p>Facebook offered a convenient proprietary library for building mobile apps, which also <a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/02/23/surveillance-zucksterism.html"> sent personal data to Facebook</a>. Lots of companies built apps that way and released them, apparently not realizing that all the personal data they collected would go to Facebook as well.</p> <p>It shows that no one can trust a nonfree program, not even the developers of other nonfree programs.</p> </li> <li id="M201902140"> <p>The AppCensus database gives information on <a href="https://www.appcensus.mobi"> how Android apps use and misuse users' personal data</a>. As of March 2019, nearly 78,000 have been analyzed, of which 24,000 (31%) transmit the <a href="/proprietary/proprietary-surveillance.html#M201812290"> Advertising ID</a> to other companies, and <a href="https://blog.appcensus.mobi/2019/02/14/ad-ids-behaving-badly/"> 18,000 (23% of the total) link this ID to hardware identifiers</a>, so that users cannot escape tracking by resetting it.</p> <p>Collecting hardware identifiers is in apparent violation of Google's policies. But it seems that Google wasn't aware of it, and, once informed, was in no hurry to take action. This proves that the policies of a development platform are ineffective at preventing nonfree software developers from including malware in their programs.</p> </li> <li id="M201902060"> <p>Many nonfree apps have a surveillance feature for <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/06/iphone-session-replay-screenshots/"> recording all the users' actions</a> in interacting with the app.</p> </li> <li id="M201902041.1"> <p>Twenty nine “beauty camera” apps that used to be on Google Play had one or more malicious functionalities, such as <a href="https://www.teleanalysis.com/news/national/these-29-beauty-camera-apps-steal-private-photo-29923"> stealing users' photos</a> instead of “beautifying” them, pushing unwanted and often malicious ads on users, and redirecting them to phishing sites that stole their credentials. Furthermore, the user interface of most of them was designed to make uninstallation difficult.</p> <p>Users should of course uninstall these dangerous apps if they haven't yet, but they should also stay away from nonfree apps in general. <em>All</em> nonfree apps carry a potential risk because there is no easy way of knowing what they really do.</p> </li> <li id="M201902010"> <p>An investigation of the 150 most popular gratis VPN apps in Google Play found that <a href="https://www.top10vpn.com/free-vpn-android-app-risk-index/"> 25% fail to protect their users’ privacy</a> due to DNS leaks. In addition, 85% feature intrusive permissions or functions in their source code—often used for invasive advertising—that could potentially also be used to spy on users. Other technical flaws were found as well.</p> <p>Moreover, a previous investigation had found that <a href="https://www.top10vpn.com/free-vpn-app-investigation/">half of the top 10 gratis VPN apps have lousy privacy policies</a>.</p> <p><small>(It is unfortunate that these articles talk about “free apps.” These apps are gratis, but they are <em>not</em> <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>.)</small></p> </li> <li id="M201901050"> <p>The Weather Channel app <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/jan/04/weather-channel-app-lawsuit-location-data-selling"> stored users' locations to the company's server</a>. The company is being sued, demanding that it notify the users of what it will do with the data.</p> <p>We think that lawsuit is about a side issue. What the company does with the data is a secondary issue. The principal wrong here is that the company gets that data at all.</p> <p><a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/gy77wy/stop-using-third-party-weather-apps"> Other weather apps</a>, including Accuweather and WeatherBug, are tracking people's locations.</p> </li> <li id="M201812290"> <p>Around 40% of gratis Android apps <a href="https://privacyinternational.org/report/2647/how-apps-android-share-data-facebook-report"> report on the user's actions to Facebook</a>.</p> <p>Often they send the machine's “advertising ID,” so that Facebook can correlate the data it obtains from the same machine via various apps. Some of them send Facebook detailed information about the user's activities in the app; others only say that the user is using that app, but that alone is often quite informative.</p> <p>This spying occurs regardless of whether the user has a Facebook account.</p> </li> <li id="M201810244"> <p>Some Android apps <a href="https://www.androidauthority.com/apps-uninstall-trackers-917539/amp/"> track the phones of users that have deleted them</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201808030"> <p>Some Google apps on Android <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/aug/13/google-location-tracking-android-iphone-mobile"> record the user's location even when users disable “location tracking”</a>.</p> <p>There are other ways to turn off the other kinds of location tracking, but most users will be tricked by the misleading control.</p> </li> <li id="M201806110"> <p>The Spanish football streaming app <a href="https://boingboing.net/2018/06/11/spanish-football-app-turns-use.html">tracks the user's movements and listens through the microphone</a>.</p> <p>This makes them act as spies for licensing enforcement.</p> <p>We expect it implements DRM, too—that there is no way to save a recording. But we can't be sure from the article.</p> <p>If you learn to care much less about sports, you will benefit in many ways. This is one more.</p> </li> <li id="M201804160"> <p>More than <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/16/child-apps-games-android-us-google-play-store-data-sharing-law-privacy">50% of the 5,855 Android apps studied by researchers were found to snoop and collect information about its users</a>. 40% of the apps were found to insecurely snitch on its users. Furthermore, they could detect only some methods of snooping, in these proprietary apps whose source code they cannot look at. The other apps might be snooping in other ways.</p> <p>This is evidence that proprietary apps generally work against their users. To protect their privacy and freedom, Android users need to get rid of the proprietary software—both proprietary Android by <a href="https://replicant.us">switching to Replicant</a>, and the proprietary apps by getting apps from the free software only <a href="https://f-droid.org/">F-Droid store</a> that <a href="https://f-droid.org/wiki/page/Antifeatures"> prominently warns the user if an app contains anti-features</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201804020"> <p>Grindr collects information about <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/04/02/egregious-breach-privacy-popular-app-grindr-supplies-third-parties-users-hiv-status"> which users are HIV-positive, then provides the information to companies</a>.</p> <p>Grindr should not have so much information about its users. It could be designed so that users communicate such info to each other but not to the server's database.</p> </li> <li id="M201803050"> <p>The moviepass app and dis-service spy on users even more than users expected. It <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/05/moviepass-ceo-proudly-says-the-app-tracks-your-location-before-and-after-movies/">records where they travel before and after going tospy on children and adults.</a>.</p>a movie</a>.</p> <p>Don't be tracked—pay cash!</p> </li> <li id="M201711240"> <p>Tracking software in popular Android apps is pervasive and sometimes very clever. Some trackers can <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/11/24/staggering-variety-of-clandestine-trackers-found-in-popular-android-apps/"> follow a user's movements around a physical store by noticing WiFi networks</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201708270"> <p>The Sarahah app <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/08/27/hit-app-sarahah-quietly-uploads-your-address-book/"> uploads all phone numbers and email addresses</a> in user's address book to developer's server.</p> <p><small>(Note that this article misuses the words “<a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>” referring to zero price.)</small></p> </li> <li id="M201707270"> <p>20 dishonest Android apps recorded <a href="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/07/stealthy-google-play-apps-recorded-calls-and-stole-e-mails-and-texts">phone calls and sent them and text messages and emails to snoopers</a>.</p> <p>Google did not intend to make these apps spy; on the contrary, it worked in various ways to prevent that, and deleted these apps after discovering what they did. So we cannot blame Google specifically for the snooping of these apps.</p> <p>On the other hand, Google redistributes nonfree Android apps, and therefore shares in the responsibility for the injustice of their being nonfree. It also distributes its own nonfree apps, such as Google Play, <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">which are malicious</a>.</p> <p>Could Google have done a better job of preventing apps from cheating? There is no systematic way for Google, or Android users, to inspect executable proprietary apps to see what they do.</p> <p>Google could demand the source code for these apps, and study the source code somehow to determine whether they mistreat users in various ways. If it did a good job of this, it could more or less prevent such snooping, except when the app developers are clever enough to outsmart the checking.</p> <p>But since Google itself develops malicious apps, we cannot trust Google to protect us. We must demand release of source code to the public, so we can depend on each other.</p> </li> <li id="M201705230"> <p>Apps for BART <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20171124190046/https://consumerist.com/2017/05/23/passengers-say-commuter-rail-app-illegally-collects-personal-user-data/"> snoop on users</a>.</p> <p>With free software apps, users could <em>make sure</em> that they don't snoop.</p> <p>With proprietary apps, one can only hope that they don't.</p> </li> <li id="M201705040"> <p>A study found 234 Android apps that track users by <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/234-android-applications-are-currently-using-ultrasonic-beacons-to-track-users/">listening to ultrasound from beacons placed in stores or played by TV programs</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201704260"> <p>Faceapp appears to do lots of surveillance, judging by <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170426191242/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2017/04/26/everything-thats-wrong-with-faceapp-the-latest-creepy-photo-app-for-your-face/"> how much access it demands to personal data in the device</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201704190"> <p>Users are suing Bose for <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170423010030/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/04/19/bose-headphones-have-been-spying-on-their-customers-lawsuit-claims/"> distributing a spyware app for its headphones</a>. Specifically, the app would record the names of the audio files users listen to along with the headphone's unique serial number.</p> <p>The suit accuses that this was done without the users' consent. If the fine print of the app said that users gave consent for this, would that make it acceptable? No way! It should be flat out <a href="/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html"> illegal to design the app to snoop at all</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201704074"> <p>Pairs of Android apps can collude to transmit users' personal data to servers. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2017/04/when-apps-collude-to-steal-your-data/522177/">A study found tens of thousands of pairs that collude</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201703300"> <p>Verizon <a href="https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/03/30/0112259/verizon-to-force-appflash-spyware-on-android-phones"> announced an opt-in proprietary search app that it will</a> pre-install on some of its phones. The app will give Verizon the same information about the users' searches that Google normally gets when they use its search engine.</p> <p>Currently, the app is <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/04/update-verizons-appflash-pre-installed-spyware-still-spyware"> being pre-installed on only one phone</a>, and the user must explicitly opt-in before the app takes effect. However, the app remains spyware—an “optional” piece of spyware is still spyware.</p> </li> <li id="M201701210"> <p>The Meitu photo-editing app <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/01/21/popular-selfie-app-sending-user-data-to-china-researchers-say/">sends user data to a Chinese company</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201611280"> <p>The Uber app tracks <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/28/uber-background-location-data-collection/">clients' movements before and after the ride</a>.</p> <p>This example illustrates how “getting the user's consent” for surveillance is inadequate as a protection against massive surveillance.</p> </li> <li id="M201611160"> <p>A <a href="https://research.csiro.au/ng/wp-content/uploads/sites/106/2016/08/paper-1.pdf"> research paper</a> that investigated the privacy and security of 283 Android VPN apps concluded that “in spite of the promises for privacy, security, and anonymity given by the majority of VPN apps—millions of users may be unawarely subject to poor security guarantees and abusive practices inflicted by VPN apps.”</p> <p>Following is a non-exhaustive list, taken from the research paper, of some proprietary VPN apps that track users and infringe their privacy:</p> <dl class="compact"> <dt>SurfEasy</dt> <dd>Includes tracking libraries such as NativeX and Appflood, meant to track users and show them targeted ads.</dd> <dt>sFly Network Booster</dt> <dd>Requests the <code>READ_SMS</code> and <code>SEND_SMS</code> permissions upon installation, meaning it has full access to users' text messages.</dd> <dt>DroidVPN and TigerVPN</dt> <dd>Requests the <code>READ_LOGS</code> permission to read logs for other apps and also core system logs. TigerVPN developers have confirmed this.</dd> <dt>HideMyAss</dt> <dd>Sends traffic to LinkedIn. Also, it stores detailed logs and may turn them over to the UK government if requested.</dd> <dt>VPN Services HotspotShield</dt> <dd>Injects JavaScript code into the HTML pages returned to the users. The stated purpose of the JS injection is to display ads. Uses roughly five tracking libraries. Also, it redirects the user's traffic through valueclick.com (an advertising website).</dd> <dt>WiFi Protector VPN</dt> <dd>Injects JavaScript code into HTML pages, and also uses roughly five tracking libraries. Developers of this app have confirmed that the non-premium version of the app does JavaScript injection for tracking the user and displaying ads.</dd> </dl> </li> <li id="M201609210"> <p>Google's new voice messaging app <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/21/12994362/allo-privacy-message-logs-google">logs all conversations</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201606050"> <p>Facebook's new Magic Photo app <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/10/facebook_scans_camera_for_your_friends/"> scans your mobile phone's photo collections for known faces</a>, and suggests you to share the picture you take according to who is in the frame.</p> <p>This spyware feature seems to require online access to some known-faces database, which means the pictures are likely to be sent across the wire to Facebook's servers and face-recognition algorithms.</p> <p>If so, none of Facebook users' pictures are private anymore, even if the user didn't “upload” them to the service.</p> </li> <li id="M201605310"> <p>Facebook's app listens all the time, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/facebook-using-people-s-phones-to-listen-in-on-what-they-re-saying-claims-professor-a7057526.html">to snoop on what people are listening to or watching</a>. In addition, it may be analyzing people's conversations to serve them with targeted advertisements.</p> </li> <li id="M201604250"> <p>A pregnancy test controller application not only can <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/4/25/11503718/first-response-pregnancy-pro-test-bluetooth-app-security"> spy on many sorts of data in the phone, and in server accounts, it can alter them too</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201601130"> <p>Apps that include <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180913014551/http://techaeris.com/2016/01/13/symphony-advanced-media-software-tracks-your-digital-life-through-your-smartphone-mic/"> Symphony surveillance software snoop on what radio and TV programs are playing nearby</a>. Also on what users post on various sites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.</p> </li> <li id="M201511190"> <p>“Cryptic communication,” unrelated to the app's functionality, was <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2015/data-transferred-android-apps-hiding-1119"> found in the 500 most popular gratis Android apps</a>.</p> <p>The article should not have described these apps as “free”—they are not free software. The clear way to say “zero price” is “gratis.”</p> <p>The article takes for granted that the usual analytics tools are legitimate, but is that valid? Software developers have no right to analyze what users are doing or how. “Analytics” tools that snoop are just as wrong as any other snooping.</p> </li> <li id="M201510300"> <p>More than 73% and 47% of mobile applications, for Android and iOS respectively <a href="https://techscience.org/a/2015103001/">share personal, behavioral and location information</a> of their users with third parties.</p> </li> <li id="M201508210"> <p>Like most “music screaming” disservices, Spotify is based on proprietary malware (DRM and snooping). In August 2015 it <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/aug/21/spotify-faces-user-backlash-over-new-privacy-policy"> demanded users submit to increased snooping</a>, and some are starting to realize that it is nasty.</p> <p>This article shows the <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/21/spotify_worse_than_the_nsa/"> twisted ways that they present snooping as a way to “serve” users better</a>—never mind whether they want that. This is a typical example of the attitude of the proprietary software industry towards those they have subjugated.</p> <p>Out, out, damned Spotify!</p> </li> <li id="M201506264"> <p><a href="http://www.privmetrics.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/wisec2015.pdf">A study in 2015</a> found that 90% of the top-ranked gratis proprietary Android apps contained recognizable tracking libraries. For the paid proprietary apps, it was only 60%.</p> <p>The article confusingly describes gratis apps as “free”, but most of them are not in fact <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>. It also uses the ugly word “monetize”. A good replacement for that word is “exploit”; nearly always that will fit perfectly.</p> </li> <li id="M201505060"> <p>Gratis Android apps (but not <a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>) connect to 100 <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/06/free-android-apps-connect-tracking-advertising-websites">tracking and advertising</a> URLs, on the average.</p> </li> <li id="M201504060"> <p>Widely used <a href="https://freedom-to-tinker.com/blog/kollarssmith/scan-this-or-scan-me-user-privacy-barcode-scanning-applications/">proprietary QR-code scanner apps snoop on the user</a>. This is in addition to the snooping done by the phone company, and perhaps by the OS in the phone.</p> <p>Don't be distracted by the question of whether the app developers get users to say “I agree”. That is no excuse for malware.</p> </li> <li id="M201411260"> <p>Many proprietary apps for mobile devices report which other apps the user has installed. <a href="http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/26/twitter-app-graph/">Twitter is doing this in a way that at least is visible and optional</a>. Not as bad as what the others do.</p> </li> <li id="M201401150.1"> <p>The Simeji keyboard is a smartphone version of Baidu's <a href="/proprietary/proprietary-surveillance.html#baidu-ime">spying <abbr title="Input Method Editor">IME</abbr></a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201312270"> <p>The nonfree Snapchat app's principal purpose is to restrict the use of data on the user's computer, but it does surveillance too: <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/dec/27/snapchat-may-be-exposed-hackers"> it tries to get the user's list of other people's phone numbers</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201312060"> <p>The Brightest Flashlight app <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/dec/06/android-app-50m-downloads-sent-data-advertisers"> sends user data, including geolocation, for use by companies</a>.</p> <p>The FTC criticized this app because it asked the user to approve sending personal data to the app developer but did not ask about sending it to other companies. This shows the weakness of the reject-it-if-you-dislike-snooping “solution” to surveillance: why should a flashlight app send any information to anyone? A free software flashlight app would not.</p> </li> <li id="M201212100"> <p>FTC says most mobile apps for children don't respect privacy: <a href="http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/12/ftc-disclosures-severely-lacking-in-kids-mobile-appsand-its-getting-worse/"> http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/12/ftc-disclosures-severely-lacking-in-kids-mobile-appsand-its-getting-worse/</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInSkype">Skype</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInSkype">#SpywareInSkype</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201908151"> <p>Skype refuses to say whether it can <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/07/20/skype_won_t_comment_on_whether_it_can_now_eavesdrop_on_conversations_.html">eavesdrop on calls</a>.</p> <p>That almost certainly means it can do so.</p> </li> <li id="M201307110"> <p>Skype contains <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20130928235637/http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/06/20/project-chess-how-u-s-snoops-on-your-skype/">spyware</a>. Microsoft changed Skype <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data"> specifically for spying</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInGames">Games</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInGames">#SpywareInGames</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201908210"> <p>Microsoft recorded users of Xboxes and had <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/43kv4q/microsoft-human-contractors-listened-to-xbox-owners-homes-kinect-cortana"> human workers listen to the recordings</a>.</p> <p>Morally, we see no difference between having human workers listen and having speech-recognition systems listen. Both intrude on privacy.</p> </li> <li id="M201806240"> <p>Red Shell is a spyware that is found in many proprietary games. It <a href="https://nebulous.cloud/threads/red-shell-illegal-spyware-for-steam-games.31924/"> tracks data on users' computers and sends it to third parties</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201804144"> <p>ArenaNet surreptitiously installed a spyware program along with an update to the massive multiplayer game Guild Wars 2. The spyware allowed ArenaNet <a href="https://techraptor.net/content/arenanet-used-spyware-anti-cheat-for-guild-wars-2-banwave"> to snoop on all open processes running on its user's computer</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201711070"> <p>The driver for a certain gaming keyboard <a href="https://thehackernews.com/2017/11/mantistek-keyboard-keylogger.html">sends information to China</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201512290"> <p>Many <a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/29/how-much-data-are-video-games-collecting-about-you.html/"> video game consoles snoop on their users and report to the internet</a>—even what their users weigh.</p> <p>A game console is a computer, and you can't trust a computer with a nonfree operating system.</p> </li> <li id="M201509160"> <p>Modern gratis game cr…apps <a href="http://toucharcade.com/2015/09/16/we-own-you-confessions-of-a-free-to-play-producer/"> collect a wide range of data about their users and their users' friends and associates</a>.</p> <p>Even nastier, they do it through ad networks that merge the data collected by various cr…apps and sites made by different companies.</p> <p>They use this data to manipulate people to buy things, and hunt for “whales” who can be led to spend a lot of money. They also use a back door to manipulate the game play for specific players.</p> <p>While the article describes gratis games, games that cost money can use the same tactics.</p> </li> <li id="M201401280"> <p>Angry Birds <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/world/spy-agencies-scour-phone-apps-for-personal-data.html"> spies for companies, and the NSA takes advantage to spy through it too</a>. Here's information on <a href="http://confabulator.blogspot.com/2012/11/analysis-of-what-information-angry.html"> more spyware apps</a>.</p> <p><a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/spy-agencies-probe-angry-birds-and-other-apps-for-personal-data"> More about NSA app spying</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M200510200"> <p>Blizzard Warden is a hidden “cheating-prevention” program that <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2005/10/new-gaming-feature-spyware"> spies on every process running on a gamer's computer and sniffs a good deal of personal data</a>, including lots of activities which have nothing to do with cheating.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareInEquipment">Spyware in Connected Equipment</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInEquipment">#SpywareInEquipment</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201708280"> <p>The bad security in many Internet of Stings devices allows <a href="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170828/08152938092/iot-devices-provide-comcast-wonderful-new-opportunity-to-spy-you.shtml">ISPs to snoop on the people that use them</a>.</p> <p>Don't be a sucker—reject all the stings.</p> <p><small>(It is unfortunate that the article uses the term <a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#Monetize">“monetize”</a>.)</small></p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInTVSets">TV Sets</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInTVSets">#SpywareInTVSets</a>)</span> </div> <p>Emo Phillips made a joke: The other day a woman came up to me and said, “Didn't I see you on television?” I said, “I don't know. You can't see out the other way.” Evidently that was before Amazon “smart” TVs.</p> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201901070"> <p>Vizio TVs <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/1/7/18172397/airplay-2-homekit-vizio-tv-bill-baxter-interview-vergecast-ces-2019"> collect “whatever the TV sees,”</a> in the own words of the company's CTO, and this data is sold to third parties. This is in return for “better service” (meaning more intrusive ads?) and slightly lower retail prices.</p> <p>What is supposed to make this spying acceptable, according to him, is that it is opt-in in newer models. But since the Vizio software is nonfree, we don't know what is actually happening behind the scenes, and there is no guarantee that all future updates will leave the settings unchanged.</p> <p>If you already own a Vizio smart TV (or any smart TV, for that matter), the easiest way to make sure it isn't spying on you is to disconnect it from the Internet, and use a terrestrial antenna instead. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. Another option, if you are technically oriented, is to get your own router (which can be an old computer running completely free software), and set up a firewall to block connections to Vizio's servers. Or, as a last resort, you can replace your TV with another model.</p> </li> <li id="M201804010"> <p>Some “Smart” TVs automatically <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180405014828/https:/twitter.com/buro9/status/980349887006076928"> load downgrades that install a surveillance app</a>.</p> <p>We link to the article for the facts it presents. It is too bad that the article finishes by advocating the moral weakness of surrendering to Netflix. The Netflix app <a href="/proprietary/malware-google.html#netflix-app-geolocation-drm">is malware too</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201702060"> <p>Vizio “smart” <a href="https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/02/what-vizio-was-doing-behind-tv-screen">TVs report everything that is viewed on them, and not just broadcasts and cable</a>. Even if the image is coming from the user's own computer, the TV reports what it is. The existence of a way to disable the surveillance, even if it were not hidden as it was in these TVs, does not legitimize the surveillance.</p> </li> <li id="M201511130"> <p>Some web and TV advertisements play inaudible sounds to be picked up by proprietary malware running on other devices in range so as to determine that they are nearby. Once your Internet devices are paired with your TV, advertisers can correlate ads with Web activity, and other <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-tv-tablet-and-pc/"> cross-device tracking</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201511060"> <p>Vizio goes a step further than other TV manufacturers in spying on their users: their <a href="http://www.propublica.org/article/own-a-vizio-smart-tv-its-watching-you"> “smart” TVs analyze your viewing habits in detail and link them your IP address</a> so that advertisers can track you across devices.</p> <p>It is possible to turn this off, but having it enabled by default is an injustice already.</p> </li> <li id="M201511020"> <p>Tivo's alliance with Viacom adds 2.3 million households to the 600 millions social media profiles the company already monitors. Tivo customers are unaware they're being watched by advertisers. By combining TV viewing information with online social media participation, Tivo can now <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/viacom-tivo-idUSL1N12U1VV20151102"> correlate TV advertisement with online purchases</a>, exposing all users to new combined surveillance by default.</p> </li> <li id="M201507240"> <p>Vizio “smart” TVs recognize and <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/24/vizio-ipo-inscape-acr/">track what people are watching</a>, even if it isn't a TV channel.</p> </li> <li id="M201505290"> <p>Verizon cable TV <a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/05/verizon-fios-reps-know-what-tv-channels-you-watch/"> snoops on what programs people watch, and even what they wanted to record</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201504300"> <p>Vizio <a href="http://boingboing.net/2015/04/30/telescreen-watch-vizio-adds-s.html"> used a firmware “upgrade” to make its TVs snoop on what users watch</a>. The TVs did not do that when first sold.</p> </li> <li id="M201502090"> <p>The Samsung “Smart” TV <a href="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/02/who-s-the-third-party-that-samsung-and-lg-smart-tvs-are-sharing-your-voice-data-with/index.htm"> transmits users' voice on the internet to another company, Nuance</a>. Nuance can save it and would then have to give it to the US or some other government.</p> <p>Speech recognition is not to be trusted unless it is done by free software in your own computer.</p> <p>In its privacy policy, Samsung explicitly confirms that <a href="http://theweek.com/speedreads/538379/samsung-warns-customers-not-discuss-personal-information-front-smart-tvs">voice data containing sensitive information will be transmitted to third parties</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201411090"> <p>The Amazon “Smart” TV is <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/nov/09/amazon-echo-smart-tv-watching-listening-surveillance"> snooping all the time</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201409290"> <p>More or less all “smart” TVs <a href="http://www.myce.com/news/reseachers-all-smart-tvs-spy-on-you-sony-monitors-all-channel-switches-72851/">spy on their users</a>.</p> <p>The report was as of 2014, but we don't expect this has got better.</p> <p>This shows that laws requiring products to get users' formal consent before collecting personal data are totally inadequate. And what happens if a user declines consent? Probably the TV will say, “Without your consent to tracking, the TV will not work.”</p> <p>Proper laws would say that TVs are not allowed to report what the user watches—no exceptions!</p> </li> <li id="M201405200"> <p>Spyware in LG “smart” TVs <a href="http://doctorbeet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/lg-smart-tvs-logging-usb-filenames-and.html"> reports what the user watches, and the switch to turn this off has no effect</a>. (The fact that the transmission reports a 404 error really means nothing; the server could save that data anyway.)</p> <p>Even worse, it <a href="http://rambles.renney.me/2013/11/lg-tv-logging-filenames-from-network-folders/"> snoops on other devices on the user's local network</a>.</p> <p>LG later said it had installed a patch to stop this, but any product could spy this way.</p> <p>Meanwhile, LG TVs <a href="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140511/17430627199/lg-will-take-smart-out-your-smart-tv-if-you-dont-agree-to-share-your-viewing-search-data-with-third-parties.shtml"> do lots of spying anyway</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201212170"> <p id="break-security-smarttv"><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2249303/Hackers-penetrate-home-Crack-Samsungs-Smart-TV-allows-attacker-seize-control-microphone-cameras.html"> Crackers found a way to break security on a “smart” TV</a> and use its camera to watch the people who are watching TV.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInCameras">Cameras</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInCameras">#SpywareInCameras</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201901100"> <p>Amazon Ring “security” devices <a href="https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/10/ring-gave-employees-access-customer-video-feeds/"> send the video they capture to Amazon servers</a>, which save it long-term.</p> <p>In many cases, the video shows everyone that comes near, or merely passes by, the user's front door.</p> <p>The article focuses on how Ring used to let individual employees look at the videos freely. It appears Amazon has tried to prevent that secondary abuse, but the primary abuse—that Amazon gets the video—Amazon expects society to surrender to.</p> </li> <li id="M201810300"> <p>Nearly all “home security cameras” <a href="https://www.consumerreports.org/privacy/d-link-camera-poses-data-security-risk--consumer-reports-finds/"> give the manufacturer an unencrypted copy of everything they see</a>. “Home insecurity camera” would be a better name!</p> <p>When Consumer Reports tested them, it suggested that these manufacturers promise not to look at what's in the videos. That's not security for your home. Security means making sure they don't get to see through your camera.</p> </li> <li id="M201603220"> <p>Over 70 brands of network-connected surveillance cameras have <a href="http://www.kerneronsec.com/2016/02/remote-code-execution-in-cctv-dvrs-of.html"> security bugs that allow anyone to watch through them</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201511250"> <p>The Nest Cam “smart” camera is <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34922712">always watching</a>, even when the “owner” switches it “off.”</p> <p>A “smart” device means the manufacturer is using it to outsmart you.</p> </li> </ul><!-- #SpywareAtLowLevel --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareAtLowLevel">Spyware at Low Level</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareAtLowLevel">#SpywareAtLowLevel</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div><div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInBIOS">Spyware in BIOS</h4>id="SpywareInToys">Toys</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInBIOS">#SpywareInBIOS</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInToys">#SpywareInToys</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p><ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201711244"> <p>The Furby Connect has a <ahref="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2984889/windows-pcs/lenovo-collects-usage-data-on-thinkpad-thinkcentre-and-thinkstation-pcs.html"> Lenovo stealthily installed crapware and spyware via BIOS</a>href="https://www.contextis.com/blog/dont-feed-them-after-midnight-reverse-engineering-the-furby-connect"> universal back door</a>. If the product as shipped doesn't act as a listening device, remote changes to the code could surely convert it into one.</p> </li> <li id="M201711100"> <p>A remote-control sex toy was found to make <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/10/16634442/lovense-sex-toy-spy-survei">audio recordings of the conversation between two users</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201703140"> <p>A computerized vibrator <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/10/vibrator-phone-app-we-vibe-4-plus-bluetooth-hack"> was snooping onWindows installs. Noteits users through the proprietary control app</a>.</p> <p>The app was reporting the temperature of the vibrator minute by minute (thus, indirectly, whether it was surrounded by a person's body), as well as the vibration frequency.</p> <p>Note the totally inadequate proposed response: a labeling standard with which manufacturers would make statements about their products, rather than free software which users could have checked and changed.</p> <p>The company that made thespecific sabotage method Lenovovibrator <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/14/wevibe-sex-toy-data-collection-chicago-lawsuit"> was sued for collecting lots of personal information about how people useddid not affect GNU/Linux; also, a “clean” Windows install is notit</a>.</p> <p>The company's statement that it was anonymizing the data may be true, but it doesn't reallyclean sincematter. If it had sold the data to a data broker, the data broker would have been able to figure out who the user was.</p> <p>Following this lawsuit, <ahref="/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html">Microsoft puts in its own malware</a>. </p></li> </ul> <!-- #SpywareAtWork --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make surehref="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/14/we-vibe-vibrator-tracking-users-sexual-habits"> the company has been ordered to pay a total of C$4m</a> to its customers.</p> </li> <li id="M201702280"> <p>“CloudPets” toys with microphones <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/28/cloudpets-data-breach-leaks-details-of-500000-children-and-adults"> leak childrens' conversations toplace new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareAtWork">Spyware at Work</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareAtWork">#SpywareAtWork</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li><p>Investigation Showsthe manufacturer</a>. Guess what? <ahref="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160602/17210734610/investigation-shows-gchq-using-us-companies-nsa-to-route-around-domestic-surveillance-restrictions.shtml">GCHQ Using US Companies, NSA To Route Around Domestic Surveillance Restrictions</a>.</p> <p>Specifically, ithref="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/pgwean/internet-of-things-teddy-bear-leaked-2-million-parent-and-kids-message-recordings"> Crackers found a way to access the data</a> collected by the manufacturer's snooping.</p> <p>That the manufacturer and the FBI could listen to these conversations was unacceptable by itself.</p> </li> <li id="M201612060"> <p>The “smart” toys My Friend Cayla and i-Que transmit <a href="https://www.forbrukerradet.no/siste-nytt/connected-toys-violate-consumer-laws">children's conversations to Nuance Communications</a>, a speech recognition company based in the U.S.</p> <p>Those toys also contain major security vulnerabilities; crackers cancollectremotely control theemails of members of Parliament this way, because they pass it through Microsoft.</p></li> <li><p>Spywaretoys with a mobile phone. This would enable crackers to listen inCisco TNP IP phones:on a child's speech, and even speak into the toys themselves.</p> </li> <li id="M201502180"> <p>Barbie <ahref="http://boingboing.net/2012/12/29/your-cisco-phone-is-listening.html"> http://boingboing.net/2012/12/29/your-cisco-phone-is-listening.html</a></p>href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/wi-fi-spy-barbie-records-childrens-5177673">is going to spy on children and adults</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInSkype">Spyware in Skype</h4>id="SpywareInDrones">Drones</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInSkype">#SpywareInSkype</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInDrones">#SpywareInDrones</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p>Spyware<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201708040"> <p>While you're using a DJI drone to snoop on other people, DJI is inSkype: <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/06/20/project-chess-how-u-s-snoops-on-your-skype/"> http://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2013/06/20/project-chess-how-u-s-snoops-on-your-skype/</a>. Microsoft changed Skypemany cases <ahref="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data"> specifically for spying</a>.</p>href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/4/16095244/us-army-stop-using-dji-drones-cybersecurity">snooping on you</a>.</p> </li> </ul><!-- #SpywareOnTheRoad --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareOnTheRoad">Spyware on The Road</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareOnTheRoad">#SpywareOnTheRoad</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div><div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInCameras">Spyware in Cameras</h4> <spanid="SpywareAtHome">Other Appliances</h4><span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInCameras">#SpywareInCameras</a>)</span>href="#SpywareAtHome">#SpywareAtHome</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li> <p>The Nest Cam “smart” camera is<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201907210"> <p>Google “Assistant” records users' conversations <ahref="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34922712">always watching</a>, evenhref="https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2019/07/google-defends-listening-to-ok-google-queries-after-voice-recordings-leak/">even whenthe “owner” switchesit“off.”</p> <p>A “smart” device meansis not supposed to listen</a>. Thus, when one of Google's subcontractors discloses a thousand confidential voice recordings, users were easily identified from these recordings.</p> <p>Since Google “Assistant” uses proprietary software, there is no way to see or control what it records or sends.</p> <p>Rather than trying to better control themanufactureruse of recordings, Google should not record or listen to the person's voice. It should only get commands that the user wants to send to some Google service.</p> </li> <li id="M201905061"> <p>Amazon Alexa collects a lot more information from users than isusingnecessary for correct functioning (time, location, recordings made without a legitimate prompt), and sends it to Amazon's servers, which store it indefinitely. Even worse, Amazon forwards it tooutsmart you.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInElectronicReaders">Spyware in e-Readers</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInElectronicReaders">#SpywareInElectronicReaders</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>E-booksthird-party companies. Thus, even if users request deletion of their data from Amazon's servers, <a href="https://www.ctpost.com/business/article/Alexa-has-been-eavesdropping-on-you-this-whole-13822095.php"> the data remain on other servers</a>, where they cancontain Javascript code,be accessed by advertising companies and<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/mar/08/men-make-up-their-minds-about-books-faster-than-women-study-finds">sometimes this code snoopsgovernment agencies. In other words, deleting the collected information doesn't cancel the wrong of collecting it.</p> <p>Data collected by devices such as the Nest thermostat, the Philips Hue-connected lights, the Chamberlain MyQ garage opener and the Sonos speakers are likewise stored longer than necessary onreaders</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Spyware in many e-readers—not onlytheKindle: <a href="https://www.eff.org/pages/reader-privacy-chart-2012"> they report even which pageservers theuser reads at what time</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Adobedevices are tethered to. Moreover, they are made“Digital Editions,”available to Alexa. As a result, Amazon has a very precise picture of users' life at home, not only in thee-reader used by most US libraries, <a href="http://www.computerworlduk.com/blogs/open-enterprise/drm-strikes-again-3575860/"> send lotspresent, but in the past (and, who knows, in the future too?)</p> </li> <li id="M201904240"> <p>Some ofdata to Adobe</a>. Adobe's “excuse”: it's neededusers' commands tocheck DRM!</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInVehicles">Spyware in Vehicles</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInVehicles">#SpywareInVehicles</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>Computerized cars with nonfree softwarethe Alexa service are <ahref="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-12/your-car-s-been-studying-you-closely-and-everyone-wants-the-data"> snooping devices</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>The Nissan Leaf has a built-in cell phone modem which allows effectively anyone <a href="https://www.troyhunt.com/controlling-vehicle-features-of-nissan/">to access its computers remotely and make changes in various settings</a>.</p> <p>That's easyhref="https://www.smh.com.au/technology/alexa-is-someone-else-listening-to-us-sometimes-someone-is-20190411-p51d4g.html"> recorded for Amazon employees to listen to</a>. The Google and Apple voice assistants dobecause the system has no authentication when accessed throughsimilar things.</p> <p>A fraction of themodem. However,Alexa service staff evenif it asked for authentication, you couldn't be confident that Nissanhasno access. The software inaccess to <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/amazon-s-alexa-reviewers-can-access-customers-home-addresses-1.1248788"> location and other personal data</a>.</p> <p>Since thecarclient program isproprietary, <a href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">which means it demands blind faith from its users</a>.</p> <p>Even ifnonfree, and data processing is done “<a href="/philosophy/words-to-avoid.html#CloudComputing">in the cloud</a>” (a soothing way of saying “We won't tell you how and where it's done”), users have noone connectsway tothe car remotely, the cell phone modem enables the phone companyknow what happens totrackthecar's movements allrecordings unless human eavesdroppers <a href="https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/three-cheers-for-amazon-s-human-eavesdroppers-1.1243033"> break their non-disclosure agreements</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201902080"> <p>The HP <a href="https://boingboing.net/2019/02/08/inkjet-dystopias.html"> “ink subscription” cartridges have DRM that constantly communicates with HP servers</a> to make sure thetime; ituser ispossible to physically removestill paying for thecell phone modem though.</p> </li> <li><p>Proprietary softwaresubscription, and hasn't printed more pages than were paid for.</p> <p>Even though the ink subscription program may be cheaper incars <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/03/24/car-spying-edr-data-privacy/1991751/">records information about drivers' movements</a>, which is made available to car manufacturers, insurance companies,some specific cases, it spies on users, andothers.</p> <p>The caseinvolves totally unacceptable restrictions in the use oftoll-collection systems, mentionedink cartridges that would otherwise be inthis article, is not reallyworking order.</p> </li> <li id="M201808120"> <p>Crackers found amatterway to break the security ofproprietary surveillance. These systems areanintolerable invasion of privacy,Amazon device, andshould<a href="https://boingboing.net/2018/08/12/alexa-bob-carol.html"> turn it into a listening device</a> for them.</p> <p>It was very difficult for them to do this. The job would bereplaced with anonymous payment systems, butmuch easier for Amazon. And if some government such as China or theinvasion isn't done by malware. The other cases mentioned are done by proprietary malware inUS told Amazon to do this, or cease to sell thecar.</p></li> <li><p>Tesla cars allowproduct in that country, do you think Amazon would have thecompanymoral fiber toextractsay no?</p> <p><small>(These crackers are probably hackers too, but please <a href="https://stallman.org/articles/on-hacking.html"> don't use “hacking” to mean “breaking security”</a>.)</small></p> </li> <li id="M201804140"> <p>A medical insurance company <a href="https://wolfstreet.com/2018/04/14/our-dental-insurance-sent-us-free-internet-connected-toothbrushes-and-this-is-what-happened-next"> offers a gratis electronic toothbrush that snoops on its user by sending usage dataremotely and determineback over thecar's location at any time. (SeeInternet</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201706204"> <p>Lots of “smart” products are designed <ahref="http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/tmi_privacy_statement_external_6-14-2013_v2.pdf"> Section 2, paragraphs b and c.</a>). The company says it doesn't store this information, buthref="http://enews.cnet.com/ct/42931641:shoPz52LN:m:1:1509237774:B54C9619E39F7247C0D58117DD1C7E96:r:27417204357610908031812337994022">to listen to everyone in the house, all the time</a>.</p> <p>Today's technological practice does not include any way of making a device that can obey your voice commands without potentially spying on you. Even ifthe state ordersitto get the data and handis air-gapped, itover,could be saving up records about you for later examination.</p> </li> <li id="M201407170"> <p id="nest-thermometers">Nest thermometers send <a href="http://bgr.com/2014/07/17/google-nest-jailbreak-hack">a lot of data about thestate can store it.</p>user</a>.</p> </li></ul> <!-- #SpywareAtHome --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareAtHome">Spyware at Home</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareAtHome">#SpywareAtHome</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li><p><a href="http://consumerman.com/Rent-to-own%20giant%20accused%20of%20spying%20on%20its%20customers.htm"><li id="M201310260"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20180911191954/http://consumerman.com/Rent-to-own%20giant%20accused%20of%20spying%20on%20its%20customers.htm"> Rent-to-own computers were programmed to spy on their renters</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInTVSets">Spyware in TV Sets</h4>id="SpywareOnWearables">Wearables</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInTVSets">#SpywareInTVSets</a>)</span>href="#SpywareOnWearables">#SpywareOnWearables</a>)</span> </div><p>Emo Phillips made a joke: The other day a woman came up to me and said, “Didn't I see you on television?” I said, “I don't know. You can't see out the other way.” Evidently that was before Amazon “smart” TVs.</p> <ul> <li><p>More or less all “smart” TVs<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201807260"> <p>Tommy Hilfiger clothing <ahref=" http://www.myce.com/news/reseachers-all-smart-tvs-spy-on-you-sony-monitors-all-channel-switches-72851/">spy on their users</a>.</p> <p>The report was as of 2014, but we don't expect this has got better.</p>href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/jul/26/tommy-hilfiger-new-clothing-line-monitor-customers">will monitor how often people wear it</a>.</p> <p>Thisshows that laws requiring products to get users' formal consent before collecting personal data are totally inadequate. And what happens if a user declines consent? Probably the TVwillsay, “Without your consent to tracking,teach theTV will not work.”</p> <p>Proper laws would say that TVs are not allowedsheeple toreportfind it normal that companies monitor every aspect of whatthe user watches — no exceptions!</p>they do.</p> </li><li><p>Vizio goes a step further than other TV manufacturers in spying on their users: their</ul> <h5 id="SpywareOnSmartWatches">“Smart” Watches</h5> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201603020"> <p>A very cheap “smart watch” comes with an Android app <ahref="http://www.propublica.org/article/own-a-vizio-smart-tv-its-watching-you"> “smart” TVs analyze your viewing habits in detail and link them your IP address</a> sohref="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/02/chinese_backdoor_found_in_ebays_popular_cheap_smart_watch/"> thatadvertisers can track you across devices.</p> <p>It is possibleconnects toturnan unidentified site in China</a>.</p> <p>The article says thisoff,is a back door, buthavingthat could be a misunderstanding. However, itenabled by defaultisan injustice already.</p>certainly surveillance, at least.</p> </li><li><p>Tivo's alliance with Viacom adds 2.3 million households<li id="M201407090"> <p>An LG “smart” watch is designed <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/07/09/lg-kizon-smart-watch_n_5570234.html"> to report its location to someone else and to transmit conversations too</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInVehicles">Vehicles</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInVehicles">#SpywareInVehicles</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201903290"> <p>Tesla cars collect lots of personal data, and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/tesla-model-3-keeps-data-like-crash-videos-location-phone-contacts.html"> when they go to a junkyard the600 millions social media profiles the company already monitors. Tivo customers are unaware they're being watched by advertisers. By combining TV viewing informationdriver's personal data goes withonline social media participation, Tivo can nowthem</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201902011"> <p>The FordPass Connect feature of some Ford vehicles has <ahref="http://www.reuters.com/article/viacom-tivo-idUSL1N12U1VV20151102">correlate TV advertisement with online purchases</a>, exposing all usershref="https://www.myfordpass.com/content/ford_com/fp_app/en_us/termsprivacy.html"> near-complete access tonew combined surveillance by default.</p></li> <li><p>Some web and TV advertisements play inaudible soundsthe internal car network</a>. It is constantly connected tobe picked upthe cellular phone network and sends Ford a lot of data, including car location. This feature operates even when the ignition key is removed, and users report that they can't disable it.</p> <p>If you own one of these cars, have you succeeded in breaking the connectivity byproprietary malware running on other devicesdisconnecting the cellular modem, or wrapping the antenna inrange so asaluminum foil?</p> </li> <li id="M201811300"> <p>In China, it is mandatory for electric cars todetermine that they are nearby. Once your Internet devices are paired with your TV, advertisers can correlate adsbe equipped withWeb activity, and other <a href="http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2015/11/beware-of-ads-that-use-inaudible-sound-to-link-your-phone-tv-tablet-and-pc/">cross-device tracking</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Vizio “smart” TVs recognize anda terminal that <ahref="http://www.engadget.com/2015/07/24/vizio-ipo-inscape-acr/">track what people are watching</a>, even if it isn'thref="https://www.apnews.com/4a749a4211904784826b45e812cff4ca"> transfers technical data, including car location, to aTV channel.</p> </li> <li><p>The Amazon “Smart” TVgovernment-run platform</a>. In practice, <ahref="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/nov/09/amazon-echo-smart-tv-watching-listening-surveillance">is watching and listening allhref="/proprietary/proprietary-surveillance.html#car-spying"> manufacturers collect this data</a> as part of their own spying, then forward it to thetime</a>.</p>government-run platform.</p> </li><li><p>The Samsung “Smart” TV<li id="M201810230"> <p>GM <ahref="http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2015/02/who-s-the-third-party-that-samsung-and-lg-smart-tvs-are-sharing-your-voice-data-with/index.htm">transmits users' voice onhref="https://boingboing.net/2018/10/23/dont-touch-that-dial.html"> tracked theinternet to another company, Nuance</a>. Nuance can savechoices of radio programs</a> in its “connected” cars, minute by minute.</p> <p>GM did not get users' consent, but itand would thencould haveto givegot that easily by sneaking ittointo theUS orcontract that users sign for someother government.</p> <p>Speech recognitiondigital service or other. A requirement for consent isnoteffectively no protection.</p> <p>The cars can also collect lots of other data: listening to you, watching you, following your movements, tracking passengers' cell phones. <em>All</em> such data collection should betrusted unless itforbidden.</p> <p>But if you really want to be safe, we must make sure the car's hardware cannot collect any of that data, or that the software isdone byfreesoftware inso we know it won't collect any of that data.</p> </li> <li id="M201711230"> <p>AI-powered driving apps can <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/43nz9p/ai-powered-driving-apps-can-track-your-every-move"> track yourown computer.</p>every move</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Spyware in<li id="M201607160"> <p id="car-spying">Computerized cars with nonfree software are <ahref="http://doctorbeet.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/lg-smart-tvs-logging-usb-filenames-and.html"> LG “smart” TVs</a> reports what the user watches, and the switch to turn this offhref="http://www.thelowdownblog.com/2016/07/your-cars-been-studying-you-closely-and.html"> snooping devices</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201602240"> <p id="nissan-modem">The Nissan Leaf hasno effect. (The fact that the transmission reportsa404 error really means nothing; the server could save that data anyway.)</p> <p>Even worse, it <a href="http://rambles.renney.me/2013/11/lg-tv-logging-filenames-from-network-folders/"> snoops on other devices on the user's local network.</a></p> <p>LG later said it had installed a patchbuilt-in cell phone modem which allows effectively anyone tostop this, but any product could spy this way.</p> <p>Meanwhile, LG TVs<ahref="http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140511/17430627199/lg-will-take-smart-out-your-smart-tv-if-you-dont-agree-to-share-your-viewing-search-data-with-third-parties.shtml"> do lots of spying anyway</a>.</p> </li> <li> <p><a href="http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/05/verizon-fios-reps-know-what-tv-channels-you-watch/">Verizon cable TV snoops on what programs people watch,href="https://www.troyhunt.com/controlling-vehicle-features-of-nissan/"> access its computers remotely andeven what they wantedmake changes in various settings</a>.</p> <p>That's easy torecord.</a></p> </li> </ul> <!-- #SpywareAtPlay --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareAtPlay">Spyware at Play</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareAtPlay">#SpywareAtPlay</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li><p>Manydo because the system has no authentication when accessed through the modem. However, even if it asked for authentication, you couldn't be confident that Nissan has no access. The software in the car is proprietary, <ahref="http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/12/29/how-much-data-are-video-games-collecting-about-you.html/"> video game consoles snoop on their users and reporthref="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">which means it demands blind faith from its users</a>.</p> <p>Even if no one connects to theinternet</a>— even what their users weigh.</p> <p>A game consolecar remotely, the cell phone modem enables the phone company to track the car's movements all the time; it isa computer, and you can't trust a computer with a nonfree operating system.</p>possible to physically remove the cell phone modem, though.</p> </li><li><p>Modern gratis game cr…apps <a href="http://toucharcade.com/2015/09/16/we-own-you-confessions-of-a-free-to-play-producer/"> collect a wide range of<li id="M201306140"> <p>Tesla cars allow the company to extract dataabout their usersremotely andtheir users' friendsdetermine the car's location at any time. (See Section 2, paragraphs b andassociates</a>.</p> <p>Even nastier, they doc of the <a href="http://www.teslamotors.com/sites/default/files/pdfs/tmi_privacy_statement_external_6-14-2013_v2.pdf"> privacy statement</a>.) The company says itthrough ad networks that mergedoesn't store this information, but if the state orders it to get the datacollected by various cr…appsandsiteshand it over, the state can store it.</p> </li> <li id="M201303250"> <p id="records-drivers">Proprietary software in cars <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/03/24/car-spying-edr-data-privacy/1991751/"> records information about drivers' movements</a>, which is madeby different companies.</p> <p>They use this data to manipulate peopleavailable tobuy things,car manufacturers, insurance companies, andhunt for “whales” who can be led to spend a lotothers.</p> <p>The case ofmoney. They also usetoll-collection systems, mentioned in this article, is not really aback door to manipulatematter of proprietary surveillance. These systems are an intolerable invasion of privacy, and should be replaced with anonymous payment systems, but the invasion isn't done by malware. The other cases mentioned are done by proprietary malware in the car.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInVR">Virtual Reality</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInVR">#SpywareInVR</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201612230"> <p>VR equipment, measuring every slight motion, creates thegame playpotential forspecific players.</p> <p>Whilethearticle describes gratis games, games that cost moneymost intimate surveillance ever. All it takes to make this potential real <a href="https://theintercept.com/2016/12/23/virtual-reality-allows-the-most-detailed-intimate-digital-surveillance-yet/">is software as malicious as many other programs listed in this page</a>.</p> <p>You canusebet Facebook will implement thesame tactics.</p>maximum possible surveillance on Oculus Rift devices. The moral is, never trust a VR system with nonfree software in it.</p> </li> </ul><!-- #SpywareOnTheWeb --><div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareOnTheWeb">Spyware on the Web</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareOnTheWeb">#SpywareOnTheWeb</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <p>In addition, many web sites spy on their visitors. Web sites are not programs, so it <a href="/philosophy/network-services-arent-free-or-nonfree.html"> makes no sense to call them “free” or “proprietary”</a>, but the surveillance is an abuse all the same.</p><ul> <li><p>Online<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201904210"> <p>As of April 2019, it is <a href="https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/major-browsers-to-prevent-disabling-of-click-tracking-privacy-risk/">no longer possible to disable an unscrupulous tracking anti-feature</a> that <a href="https://html.spec.whatwg.org/multipage/links.html#hyperlink-auditing">reports users when they follow ping links</a> in Apple Safari, Google Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Edge and also in the upcoming Microsoft Edge that is going to be based on Chromium.</p> </li> <li id="M201901101"> <p>Until 2015, any tweet that listed a geographical tag <a href="http://web-old.archive.org/web/20190115233002/https://www.wired.com/story/twitter-location-data-gps-privacy/"> sent the precise GPS location to Twitter's server</a>. It still contains these GPS locations.</p> </li> <li id="M201805170"> <p>The Storyful program <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/17/revealed-how-storyful-uses-tool-monitor-what-journalists-watch">spies on the reporters that use it</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201701060"> <p>When a page uses Disqus for comments, the proprietary Disqus software <a href="https://blog.dantup.com/2017/01/visiting-a-site-that-uses-disqus-comments-when-not-logged-in-sends-the-url-to-facebook">loads a Facebook software package into the browser of every anonymous visitor to the page, and makes the page's URL available to Facebook</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201612064"> <p>Online sales, with tracking and surveillance of customers, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/06/cookie-monsters-why-your-browsing-history-could-mean-rip-off-prices">enables businesses to show different people different prices</a>. Most of the tracking is done by recording interactions with servers, but proprietary software contributes.</p> </li><li><p><a href="http://japandailypress.com/government-warns-agencies-against-using-chinas-baidu-application-after-data-transmissions-discovered-2741553/"> Baidu's Japanese-input and Chinese-input apps spy on users.</a></p> </li> <li><p>Pages that contain “Like” buttons <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebooks-privacy-lie-aussie-exposes-tracking-as-new-patent-uncovered-20111004-1l61i.html"> enable Facebook to track visitors<li id="M201405140"> <p><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190421070310/https://www.itproportal.com/2014/05/14/microsoft-openly-offered-cloud-data-fbi-and-nsa/"> Microsoft SkyDrive allows the NSA tothose pages</a>—even users that don't have Facebook accounts.</p>directly examine users' data</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Many<li id="M201210240"> <p>Many web sites rat their visitors to advertising networks that track users. Of the top 1000 web sites, <a href="https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bclt/research/privacy-at-bclt/web-privacy-census/">84% (as of 5/17/2012) fed their visitors third-party cookies, allowing other sites to track them</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Many<li id="M201208210"> <p>Many web sites report all their visitors to Google by using the Google Analytics service, which <a href="http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/434164/google_analytics_breaks_norwegian_privacy_laws_local_agency_said/"> tells Google the IP address and the page that wasvisited.</a></p>visited</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Many<li id="M201200000"> <p>Many web sites try to collect users' address books (the user's list of other people's phone numbers or email addresses). This violates the privacy of those other people.</p> </li><li><p><a href="http://www.itproportal.com/2014/05/14/microsoft-openly-offered-cloud-data-fbi-and-nsa/"> Microsoft SkyDrive allows<li id="M201110040"> <p>Pages that contain “Like” buttons <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/technology/facebooks-privacy-lie-aussie-exposes-tracking-as-new-patent-uncovered-20111004-1l61i.html"> enable Facebook to track visitors to those pages</a>—even users that don't have Facebook accounts.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInJavaScript">JavaScript</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInJavaScript">#SpywareInJavaScript</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201811270"> <p>Many web sites use JavaScript code <a href="http://gizmodo.com/before-you-hit-submit-this-company-has-already-logge-1795906081"> to snoop on information that users have typed into a form but not sent</a>, in order to learn their identity. Some are <a href="https://www.manatt.com/Insights/Newsletters/Advertising-Law/Sites-Illegally-Tracked-Consumers-New-Suits-Allege"> getting sued</a> for this.</p> <p>The chat facilities of some customer services use theNSAsame sort of malware todirectly examine users' data</a>.</p><a href="https://gizmodo.com/be-warned-customer-service-agents-can-see-what-youre-t-1830688119"> read what the user is typing before it is posted</a>.</p> </li></ul> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items<li id="M201807190"> <p>British Airways used <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/19/17591732/british-airways-gdpr-compliance-twitter-personal-data-security">nonfree JavaScript ontop under each subsection --> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInChrome">Spyware in Chrome</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInChrome">#SpywareInChrome</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>Google Chrome makes it easy for an extensionits web site todo <a href="https://labs.detectify.com/2015/07/28/how-i-disabled-your-chrome-security-extensions/">total snoopinggive other companies personal data on its customers</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201712300"> <p>Some JavaScript malware <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/30/16829804/browser-password-manager-adthink-princeton-research"> swipes usernames from browser-based password managers</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201711150"> <p>Some websites send JavaScript code to collect all the user'sbrowsing</a>, and many of them do so.</p>input, <a href="https://freedom-to-tinker.com/2017/11/15/no-boundaries-exfiltration-of-personal-data-by-session-replay-scripts/">which can then be used to reproduce the whole session</a>.</p> <p>If you use LibreJS, it will block that malicious JavaScript code.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInFlash">Spyware in Flash</h4>id="SpywareInFlash">Flash</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInFlash">#SpywareInFlash</a>)</span> </div><ul> <li><p>Flash<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201310110"> <p>Flash and JavaScript are used for <a href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/top-sites-and-maybe-the-nsa-track-users-with-device-fingerprinting/"> “fingerprinting” devices</a> to identify users.</p> </li> <li id="M201003010"> <p>Flash Player's <a href="http://www.imasuper.com/66/technology/flash-cookies-the-silent-privacy-killer/"> cookie feature helps web sites track visitors</a>.</p> </li><li><p>Flash</ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInChrome">Chrome</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInChrome">#SpywareInChrome</a>)</span> </div> <ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201906220"> <p>Google Chrome isalso usedan <a href="https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/21/google-chrome-has-become-surveillance-software-its-time-to-switch/"> instrument of surveillance</a>. It lets thousands of trackers invade users' computers and report the sites they visit to advertising and data companies, first of all to Google. Moreover, if users have a Gmail account, Chrome automatically logs them in to the browser for more convenient profiling. On Android, Chrome also reports their location to Google.</p> <p>The best way to escape surveillance is to switch to <ahref="http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/top-sites-and-maybe-the-nsa-track-users-with-device-fingerprinting/"> “fingerprinting” devices </a>href="/software/icecat/">IceCat</a>, a modified version of Firefox with several changes toidentify users.</p>protect users' privacy.</p> </li></ul> <p><a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html">Javascript code</a><li id="M201704131"> <p>Low-priced Chromebooks for schools are <a href="https://www.eff.org/wp/school-issued-devices-and-student-privacy"> collecting far more data on students than isanother methodnecessary, and store it indefinitely</a>. Parents and students complain about the lack of“fingerprinting” devices.</p> <!-- #SpywareEverywhere --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareEverywhere">Spyware Everywhere</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareEverywhere">#SpywareEverywhere</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li><p>The natural extensiontransparency on the part ofmonitoring people through “their” phonesboth the educational services and the schools, the difficulty of opting out of these services, and the lack of proper privacy policies, among other things.</p> <p>But complaining is not sufficient. Parents, students and teachers should realize that the software Google uses to spy on students is nonfree, so they can't verify what it really does. The only remedy is to persuade school officials to <ahref="http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2016/01/fool-activity-tracker.html"> proprietary softwarehref="/education/edu-schools.html"> exclusively use free software</a> for both education and school administration. If the school is run locally, parents and teachers can mandate their representatives at the School Board tomake surerefuse the budget unless the school initiates a switch to free software. If education is run nation-wide, theycan't “fool”need to persuade legislators (e.g., through free software organizations, political parties, etc.) to migrate themonitoring</a>.</p> </li> <li><p><a href="http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/134954-cortana-is-always-listening-with-new-wake-on-voice-tech-even-when-windows-10-is-sleeping"> Intel devices will be ablepublic schools tolistenfree software.</p> </li> <li id="M201507280"> <p>Google Chrome makes it easy forspeech allan extension to do <a href="https://labs.detectify.com/2015/07/28/how-i-disabled-your-chrome-security-extensions/">total snooping on thetime, even when “off.”</a></p>user's browsing</a>, and many of them do so.</p> </li> <li id="M201506180"> <p>Google Chrome includes a module that <a href="https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/2015/06/google-chrome-listening-in-to-your-room-shows-the-importance-of-privacy-defense-in-depth/"> activates microphones and transmits audio to its servers</a>.</p> </li> <li id="M201308040"> <p>Google Chrome <a href="https://www.brad-x.com/2013/08/04/google-chrome-is-spyware/"> spies on browser history, affiliations</a>, and other installed software.</p> </li> <li id="M200809060"> <p>Google Chrome contains a key logger that <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190126075111/http://www.favbrowser.com/google-chrome-spyware-confirmed/"> sends Google every URL typed in</a>, one key at a time.</p> </li> </ul><!-- #SpywareInVR --><div class="big-section"> <h3id="SpywareInVR">Spyware In VR</h3>id="SpywareInNetworks">Spyware in Networks</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInVR">#SpywareInVR</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInNetworks">#SpywareInNetworks</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div><ul> <li><p>VR equipment, measuring every slight motion, creates the potential<ul class="blurbs"> <li id="M201902040"> <p>Google invites people to <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/02/04/google-screenwise-unwise-trade-all-your-privacy-cash?cd-origin=rss"> let Google monitor their phone use, and all internet use in their homes, for an extravagant payment of $20</a>.</p> <p>This is not a malicious functionality of a program with some other purpose; this is the software's sole purpose, and Google says so. But Google says it in a way that encourages mostintimate surveillance ever. Allpeople to ignore the details. That, we believe, makes ittakesfitting tomake this potential reallist here.</p> </li> <li id="M201606030"> <p>Investigation Shows <ahref="https://theintercept.com/2016/12/23/virtual-reality-allows-the-most-detailed-intimate-digital-surveillance-yet/">is software as malicious as many other programs listed in this page</a>.</p> <p>Youhref="https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160602/17210734610/investigation-shows-gchq-using-us-companies-nsa-to-route-around-domestic-surveillance-restrictions.shtml">GCHQ Using US Companies, NSA To Route Around Domestic Surveillance Restrictions</a>.</p> <p>Specifically, it canbet Facebook will implementcollect themaximum possible surveillance on Oculus Rift devices. The moral is, never trust a VR system with nonfree software in it.</p>emails of members of Parliament this way, because they pass it through Microsoft.</p> </li> <li id="M201212290"> <p>The Cisco TNP IP phones are <a href="http://boingboing.net/2012/12/29/your-cisco-phone-is-listening.html"> spying devices</a>.</p> </li> </ul> </div> </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> <div id="footer"> <div class="unprintable"> <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, replace it with the translation of these two: We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> <p>For information on coordinating and submitting translations of our web pages, see <a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a>. --> Please see the <a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting translations of this article.</p> </div> <!-- Regarding copyright, in general, standalone pages (as opposed to files generated as part of manuals) on the GNU web server should be under CC BY-ND 4.0. Please do NOT change or remove this without talking with the webmasters or licensing team first. Please make sure the copyright date is consistent with the document. For web pages, it is ok to list just the latest year the document was modified, or published. If you wish to list earlier years, that is ok too. Either "2001, 2002, 2003" or "2001-2003" are ok for specifying years, as long as each year in the range is in fact a copyrightable year, i.e., a year in which the document was published (including being publicly visible on the web or in a revision control system). There is more detail about copyright years in the GNU Maintainers Information document, www.gnu.org/prep/maintain. --> <p>Copyright © 2015, 2016,20172017, 2018, 2019 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</p> <p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license"href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">Creativehref="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">Creative CommonsAttribution-NoDerivativesAttribution 4.0 International License</a>.</p> <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> <p class="unprintable">Updated: <!-- timestamp start --> $Date: 2019/11/18 15:05:19 $ <!-- timestamp end --> </p> </div></div></div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> </body> </html>