<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> <!-- Parent-Version:1.791.84 --> <title>Proprietary Surveillance - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> <style type="text/css" media="print,screen"><!-- .announcement { background: none; } #surveillance div.toc { width: 24.5em; max-width: 94%; margin-bottom: 1em; } @media (min-width: 48em) { #surveillance div.toc { float: left; width: auto; max-width: 48%; margin: .2em 0 1em; } #surveillance .medium { width: 43%; margin: 7em 0 1em 1.5em; } } --></style> <!-- GNUN: localize URL /graphics/dog.small.jpg --> <!--#include virtual="/proprietary/po/proprietary-surveillance.translist" --> <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> <h2>Proprietary Surveillance</h2> <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 often exercise that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.</p> <div class="announcement"> <p>This document 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 examples of proprietary malware</a></p> </div> <div id="surveillance"> <div class="pict medium"> <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> <div class="toc"> <h3 id="TableOfContents">Table of Contents</h3> <ul> <li><a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a></li> <li><a href="#OSSpyware">Spyware in Operating Systems</a> <ul> <li><a href="#SpywareInWindows">Spyware in Windows</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInMacOS">Spyware in MacOS</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInAndroid">Spyware in Android</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#SpywareOnMobiles">Spyware on Mobiles</a> <ul> <li><a href="#SpywareIniThings">Spyware in iThings</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInTelephones">Spyware in Telephones</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInMobileApps">Spyware in Mobile Applications</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInGames">Spyware in Games</a></li> <li><ahref="#SpywareInToys">Spyware in Toys</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#SpywareOnSmartWatches">Spyware on Smart Watches</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareAtLowLevel">Spyware at Low Level</a> <ul> <li><a href="#SpywareInBIOS">Spyware in BIOS</a></li><!-- <li><a href="#SpywareInFirmware">Spyware in Firmware</a></li> --></ul> </li> <li><a href="#SpywareAtWork">Spyware at Work</a> <ul> <li><a href="#SpywareInSkype">Spyware in Skype</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#SpywareOnTheRoad">Spyware on the Road</a> <ul> <li><a href="#SpywareInCameras">Spyware in Cameras</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInElectronicReaders">Spyware in e-Readers</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInVehicles">Spyware in Vehicles</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#SpywareAtHome">Spyware at Home</a> <ul> <li><a href="#SpywareInTVSets">Spyware in TV Sets</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><ahref="#SpywareAtPlay">Spyware at Play</a></li>href="#SpywareInGames">Spyware in Games</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInRecreation">Spyware in Recreation</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareOnTheWeb">Spyware on the Web</a> <ul> <li><a href="#SpywareInChrome">Spyware in Chrome</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInFlash">Spyware in JavaScript and Flash</a></li> </ul> </li> <li><a href="#SpywareInDrones">Spyware in Drones</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareEverywhere">Spyware Everywhere</a></li> <li><a href="#SpywareInVR">Spyware In VR</a></li> </ul> </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 id="AggregateInfoCollection">AggregateInformation Collection</h3>or anonymized data</h3> <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 to what companies saynot be distracted by companies' statements of they will <em>do</em> with the data they collect. The wrong is that they collect it at all.</p> <h3 id="LatestAdditions">Latest additions</h3> <p>Latest additions are found on top under each category.</p> <!-- #OSSpyware --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="OSSpyware">Spyware in Operating Systems</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#OSSpyware">#OSSpyware</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInWindows">Spyware in Windows</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInWindows">#SpywareInWindows</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><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><p>Windows DRM files <a href="https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/02/02/231229/windows-drm-protected-files-used-to-decloak-tor-browser-users">can be used to identify people browsing through Tor</a>. The vulnerability exists only if you use Windows. </p></li> <li><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 another company.</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>In order to increase Windows 10's install base, Microsoft <a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/08/windows-10-microsoft-blatantly-disregards-user-choice-and-privacy-deep-dive"> blatantly disregards user choice and privacy</a>. </li> <li><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 most users.</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>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 are running</a>.</li> <li><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 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160407082751/http://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> Windows 10 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20151001035410/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 targeted ads.</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> 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 Windows now.</p></li> <li><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"> Windows 8.1 snoops on local searches.</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>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> <li>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>.</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"> <h4 id="SpywareInMacOS">Spyware in 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/"> MacOS automatically 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 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 MacOS send reports to Apple</a> servers.</p> </li> <li><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 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"> <h4 id="SpywareInAndroid">Spyware in Android</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInAndroid">#SpywareInAndroid</a>)</span> </div> <ul><li><p>More<li> <p>More than73%<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/apr/16/child-apps-games-android-us-google-play-store-data-sharing-law-privacy">50% of themost popular5,855 Android apps<a href="http://jots.pub/a/2015103001/index.php">share personal, behavioralstudied by researchers were found to snoop andlocation information</a>collect information about its users</a>. 40% oftheir users with third parties.</p> </li> <li><p>“Cryptic communication,” unrelated totheapp's functionality, was <a href="http://news.mit.edu/2015/data-transferred-android-apps-hiding-1119">apps were found to insecurely snitch on its users. Furthermore, they could detect only some methods of snooping, inthe 500 most popular gratis Android apps</a>.</p> <p>The article should not have describedthese proprietary appsas “free”—they are not free software.whose source code they cannot look at. Theclear way to say “zero price”other apps might be snooping in other ways.</p> <p>This is“gratis.”</p> <p>The article takes for grantedevidence that proprietary apps generally work against their users. To protect their privacy and freedom, Android users need to get rid of theusual analytics tools are legitimate, but is that valid? Software developers have no rightproprietary software—both proprietary Android by <a href="https://replicant.us">switching toanalyze what users are doing or how. “Analytics” tools that snoop are just as wrong asReplicant</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> <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> <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 of proprietary VPN apps from the research paper that tracks and infringes the privacy of users:</p> <dl> <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 5 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 5 tracking libraries. Developers of this app have confirmed that the non-premium version of the app does JavaScript injection for tracking and display ads.</dd> </dl> </li> <li> <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> <p>Apps for BART <a href="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> <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> <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> <p>Google Play intentionally sends app developers <a href="http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/google-play-store-policy-raises-privacy-concerns-331116"> the personal details of users that install the app</a>.</p> <p>Merely asking the “consent” of users is not enough to legitimize actions like this. At this point, most users have stopped reading the “Terms and Conditions” that spell out what they are “consenting” to. Google should clearly and honestly identify the information it collects on users, instead of hiding it in an obscurely worded EULA.</p> <p>However, to truly protect people's privacy, we must prevent Google and other companies from getting this personal information in the first place!</p> </li> <li> <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 itself 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>More than 73% of the most popular Android apps <a href="http://jots.pub/a/2015103001/index.php">share personal, behavioral and location information</a> of their users with third parties.</p> </li> <li><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><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><p>Spyware is present in some Android devices when they are sold. Some Motorola phones modify Android to <a href="http://www.beneaththewaves.net/Projects/Motorola_Is_Listening.html"> send personal 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 file on the system.</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"> <h4 id="SpywareIniThings">Spyware in iThings</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareIniThings">#SpywareIniThings</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>The DMCA and the EU 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><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 Apple for you—“We know you want to be spied on”.</p> </li> <li><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 the phone is snooping on them.</p></li> <li><p>iPhones <ahref="https://theintercept.com/2016/11/17/iphones-secretly-send-call-history-to-apple-security-firm-says">sendhref="https://theintercept.com/2016/11/17/iphones-secretly-send-call-history-to-apple-security-firm-says/">send lots of personal data to Apple's servers</a>. Big Brother can get them from there.</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 number that the user types into it</a>; the server records these numbers for at least 30 days.</p> </li> <li><p>Users cannot make an Apple ID <ahref="http://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/49951/how-can-i-download-free-apps-without-registering-an-apple-idcool">(necessaryhref="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 code Apple sends to it.</p> </li> <li><p>Around 47% of the most popular iOS apps <a class="not-a-duplicate" href="http://jots.pub/a/2015103001/index.php">share personal, behavioral and location information</a> of their users with third parties.</p> </li> <li><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 <a href="/philosophy/surveillance-vs-democracy.html#digitalcash">PRISM</a>. </p></li> <li><p>Spyware in iThings: 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><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, <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 Apple helps the NSA snoop on all the data in an iThing, or it is totally incompetent.</a></p> </li> <li><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> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInTelephones">Spyware in Telephones</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInTelephones">#SpywareInTelephones</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><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><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><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><p>According to Edward Snowden, <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-34444233">agencies can take over smartphones</a> by sending hidden text messages which enable them to turn the phones on and off, listen to the microphone, 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 is designed to disguise itself from investigation.</p> </li> <li><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 some kind.</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 all the time</a>.</p> </li> <li><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 and laptops</a>. (I suspect this means Windows 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 is torestrict the userestrict 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> </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>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> <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 to a movie</a>. </p> <p>Don't be tracked — pay cash!</p> </li> <li><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 your every move</a>.</p> </li> <li><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. Note that this article misuses the words “<a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a>” referring to zero price.</p> </li> <li> <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> <p>Faceapp appears to do lots of surveillance, judging by <a href="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> <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><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><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 dataon 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 getin theuser's list of other people's phone numbers.</a></p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInMobileApps">Spywarephone, and inMobile Applications</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInMobileApps">#SpywareInMobileApps</a>)</span> </div> <ul>server accounts, it can alter them too</a>. </p></li> <li><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><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><p>Apps that include <a href="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 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><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://web.archive.org/web/20160313214751/http://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><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><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> <li><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><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> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4id="SpywareInGames">Spywareid="SpywareInToys">Spyware inGames</h4>Toys</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInGames">#SpywareInGames</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInToys">#SpywareInToys</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 users identify themselves and then sends personal data about them<li> <p>A remote-control sex toy was found tonVidia servers</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Angry Birdsmake <ahref="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/world/spy-agencies-scour-phone-apps-for-personal-data.html"> spies for companies,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> <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 theNSA takes advantageU.S.</p> <p>Those toys also contain major security vulnerabilities; crackers can remotely control the toys with a mobile phone. This would enable crackers tospy through it too</a>. Here's informationlisten in on a child's speech, and even speak into the toys themselves.</p> </li> <li> <p>A computerized vibrator <ahref="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 NSAhref="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/10/vibrator-phone-app-we-vibe-4-plus-bluetooth-hack"> was snooping on its users through the proprietary control app</a>.</p> <p>The appspying</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInToys">Spyware in Toys</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInToys">#SpywareInToys</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>Awas 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 thatmakes internet-controlled vibratorsmade the vibrator <ahref="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/14/wevibe-sex-toy-data-collection-chicago-lawsuit">is beinghref="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 peopleuseused it</a>.</p> <p>The company's statement that itanonymizeswas anonymizing the data may be true, but it doesn't really matter. If itsellshad sold the data to a data broker, the data brokercanwould have been able to figure out who the useris.</p>was.</p> <p>Following this lawsuit, <a href="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><p>A computerized vibrator<li><p> “CloudPets” toys with microphones <ahref="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/10/vibrator-phone-app-we-vibe-4-plus-bluetooth-hack">snoops on its users through the proprietary control app</a>.</p> <p>The app reportshref="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/feb/28/cloudpets-data-breach-leaks-details-of-500000-children-and-adults"> leak childrens' conversations to thetemperature ofmanufacturer</a>. Guess what? <a href="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 thevibrator minute by minute (thus, indirectly, whether it is surroundeddata</a> collected bya person's body), andthevibration frequency.</p> <p>Notemanufacturer's snooping.</p> <p>That thetotally inadequate proposed response: a labeling standard with which manufacturers would make statements about their products, rather than free software which users can checkmanufacturer andchange.</p> </li>the FBI could listen to these conversations was unacceptable by itself.</p></li> <li><p>Barbie <a href="http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/wi-fi-spy-barbie-records-childrens-5177673">is going to spy on children andadults.</a>.</p>adults</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <!-- #SpywareOnSmartWatches --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareOnSmartWatches">Spyware on “Smart” Watches</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id"> (<a href="#SpywareOnSmartWatches">#SpywareOnSmartWatches</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li> <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> <li> <p>A very cheap “smart watch” comes with an Android app <a href="https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/02/chinese_backdoor_found_in_ebays_popular_cheap_smart_watch/"> that connects to an unidentified site in China</a>.</p> <p>The article says this is a back door, but that could be a misunderstanding. However, it is certainly surveillance, at least.</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"> <h4 id="SpywareInBIOS">Spyware in BIOS</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInBIOS">#SpywareInBIOS</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p> <a href="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> on Windows installs. Note that the specific sabotage method Lenovo used did not affect GNU/Linux; also, a “clean” Windows install is not really clean since <a href="/proprietary/malware-microsoft.html">Microsoft puts in its own malware</a>. </p></li> </ul> <!-- #SpywareAtWork --> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place 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 Shows <a href="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 can collect the emails of members of Parliament this way, because they pass it through Microsoft.</p></li> <li><p>Spyware in Cisco TNP IP phones: <a href="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> </li> </ul> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInSkype">Spyware in Skype</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInSkype">#SpywareInSkype</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li><p>Spyware in Skype: <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 Skype <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/11/microsoft-nsa-collaboration-user-data"> specifically for spying</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"> <h4 id="SpywareInCameras">Spyware in Cameras</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInCameras">#SpywareInCameras</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li> <p>Every “home security” camera, if its manufacturer can communicate with it, is a surveillance device. <a href="https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/4/16426394/canary-smart-home-camera-free-service-update-change"> Canary camera is an example</a>.</p> <p>The article describes wrongdoing by the manufacturer, based on the fact that the device is tethered to a server.</p> <p><a href="/proprietary/proprietary-tethers.html">More about proprietary tethering</a>.</p> <p>But it also demonstrates that the device gives the company surveillance capability.</p> </li> <li> <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> <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-books can containJavascriptJavaScript code, 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 snoops on readers</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Spyware in many e-readers—not only the Kindle: <a href="https://www.eff.org/pages/reader-privacy-chart-2012"> they report even which page the user reads at what time</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Adobe made “Digital Editions,” the e-reader used by most US libraries, <a href="http://www.computerworlduk.com/blogs/open-enterprise/drm-strikes-again-3575860/"> send lots of data to Adobe</a>. Adobe's “excuse”: it's needed to check 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 software are <ahref="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-12/your-car-s-been-studying-you-closely-and-everyone-wants-the-data">href="http://www.thelowdownblog.com/2016/07/your-cars-been-studying-you-closely-and.html"> snooping devices</a>.</p> </li><li><p>The<li id="nissan-modem"><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 easy to do 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, <a href="/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 the car remotely, the cell phone modem enables the phone company to track the car's movements all the time; it is possible to physically remove the cell phone modem though.</p> </li><li><p>Proprietary<li id="records-drivers"><p>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 made available to car manufacturers, insurance companies, and others.</p> <p>The case of toll-collection systems, mentioned in this article, is not really a matter 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> <li><p>Tesla cars allow the company to extract data remotely and determine the car's location at any time. (See <a href="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, but if the state orders it to get the data and hand it over, the state can store it.</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 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 data back over the Internet</a>.</p> </li> <li><p>Lots of “smart” products are designed <a href="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 if it is air-gapped, it could be saving up records about you for later examination.</p> </li> <li><p>Nest thermometers send <a href="http://bgr.com/2014/07/17/google-nest-jailbreak-hack">a lot of data about the user</a>.</p> </li> <li><p><a href="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"> <h4 id="SpywareInTVSets">Spyware in 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> <li><p>Some “Smart” TVs automatically <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16727319">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> <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><p>More or less all “smart” TVs <ahref=" http://www.myce.com/news/reseachers-all-smart-tvs-spy-on-you-sony-monitors-all-channel-switches-72851/">spyhref="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><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><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><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><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><p>The Amazon “Smart” TV <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/shortcuts/2014/nov/09/amazon-echo-smart-tv-watching-listening-surveillance">iswatching and listeningsnooping all the time</a>.</p> </li> <li><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><p>Spyware in <a href="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 off has no effect. (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> <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, and even what they wanted to record.</a></p> </li> </ul> <!--#SpywareAtPlay#SpywareInGames --> <div class="big-section"> <h3id="SpywareAtPlay">Spyware at Play</h3>id="SpywareInGames">Spyware in Games</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareAtPlay">#SpywareAtPlay</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInGames">#SpywareInGames</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li> <p>ArenaNet surreptitiously installed a spyware program along with an update to the massive multiplayer game Guild War 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> <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><p>nVidia's proprietary GeForce Experience <a href="http://www.gamersnexus.net/industry/2672-geforce-experience-data-transfer-analysis">makes users identify themselves and then sends personal data about them to nVidia servers</a>.</p> </li> <li><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><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><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 thatcost money can usecost money can use the same tactics.</p> </li> </ul> <!-- #SpywareAtRecreation --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareAtRecreation">Spyware at Recreation</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id"> (<a href="#SpywareAtRecreation">#SpywareAtRecreation</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li><p>Users are suing Bose for <a href="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 thesame tactics.</p>app to snoop at all</a>. </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> 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><p>When a page uses Disqus for comments, <a href="https://blog.dantup.com/2017/01/visiting-a-site-that-uses-disqus-comments-when-not-logged-in-sends-the-url-to-facebook">the proprietary Disqus software 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><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><ahref="http://japandailypress.com/government-warns-agencies-against-using-chinas-baidu-application-after-data-transmissions-discovered-2741553/">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><p>Pages that contain “Like” buttons <ahref="http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/facebooks-privacy-lie-aussie-exposes-tracking-as-new-patent-uncovered-20111004-1l61i.html">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> <li><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 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 was visited.</a></p> </li> <li><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 the NSA to directly examine users' data</a>.</p> </li> </ul> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top under each subsection --> <div class="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInFlash">Spyware in JavaScript and Flash</h4> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInFlash">#SpywareInFlash</a>)</span> </div> <ul> <li> <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> <p>Some websites send JavaScript code to collect all the user's 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> <li><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> </li> <li><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 and JavaScript are also 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> </ul> <!-- WEBMASTERS: make sure to place new items on top 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 <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><p>Google Chrome contains a key logger that <a href="http://www.favbrowser.com/google-chrome-spyware-confirmed/"> sends Google every URL typed in</a>, one key at a time.</p> </li> <li><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><p>Google Chrome makes it easy for an extension to do <a href="https://labs.detectify.com/2015/07/28/how-i-disabled-your-chrome-security-extensions/">total snooping on the user's browsing</a>, and many of them do so.</p> </li> </ul> <!-- #SpywareInDrones --> <divclass="big-subsection"> <h4 id="SpywareInFlash">Spywareclass="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareInDrones">Spyware inFlash</h4>Drones</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<ahref="#SpywareInFlash">#SpywareInFlash</a>)</span>href="#SpywareInDrones">#SpywareInDrones</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul><li><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<li> <p>While you're using a DJI drone to snoop on other people, DJI isalso used forin many cases <ahref="http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/top-sites-and-maybe-the-nsa-track-users-with-device-fingerprinting/"> “fingerprinting” devices </a> to identify users.</p>href="https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/4/16095244/us-army-stop-using-dji-drones-cybersecurity">snooping on you</a>.</p> </li> </ul><p><a href="/philosophy/javascript-trap.html">Javascript code</a> is another method 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 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” the monitoring</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 able to listen for speech all the time, even when “off.”</a></p> </li> </ul> <!-- #SpywareInVR --> <div class="big-section"> <h3 id="SpywareInVR">Spyware In VR</h3> <span class="anchor-reference-id">(<a href="#SpywareInVR">#SpywareInVR</a>)</span> </div> <div style="clear: left;"></div> <ul> <li><p>VR equipment, measuring every slight motion, creates the potential for the most 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 can bet Facebook will implement the maximum possible surveillance on Oculus Rift devices. The moral is, never trust a VR system with nonfree software in it.</p> </li> </ul> </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. 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