Comment by mobile app developer Apadmi following on from today’s news that NSA and GCHQ have been targeting 'leaky' phone apps like Angry Birds, Flickr and Facebook apps to harvest user data including the phone user’s age, location and sexual orientation.
US and British spies get personal data from Angry Birds and other apps:Commenting on the news that the NSA and GCHQ have been developing capabilities to take advantage of "leaky" smartphone apps, Garry Partington, CEO of Apadmi said: “It does make sense for some apps to have access to certain elements of users’ data, but in most cases there is absolutely no need for apps to collect masses of private user information. Apps and the developers that do this are exposing users’ data unnecessarily, causing real concerns over privacy – as today’s news shows.
“We advise our customers to only access the information that they need, and make it very clear to the user what information is being collected and how this will be used so that users can make informed choices.”