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Security firm Kryptowire discovered that an app in some BLU Android smartphones was transmitting personal user data to a Chinese server every three days.
The unlocked smartphone company BLU has now admitted that several of its handsets have been secretly sending out personal data collected from their owners. The data was transmitted via a third-party app that was installed on six of its phones.
According to The New York Times (paywalled article), the security firm Kryptowire first discovered that an app in some of BLU's phones was transmitting data to a Chinese server every 72 hours. It's not yet clear if the data was being mined for advertising purposes or to collect intelligence for the Chinese government. However, the story adds that the company that wrote the software, Shanghai Adups Technology Company, claims the app was made for a Chinese phone manufacturer to monitor users. It also claims it was not meant to be installed on handsets sold to a U.S. audience.
BLU has since admitted that about 120,000 of its phones "had been collecting unauthorized personal data in the form of text messages, call logs, and contacts from customers" via the "Wireless Update" app. The six phone models that were affected are the R1 HD, the Energy X Plus 2, the Studio Touch, the Advance 4.0 L2, the Neo XL, and the Energy Diamond.
Well, maybe that explains why BLU smartphones are so cheap...
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday November 16 2016, @03:54PM
What does Google learn about you, when you use Google apps and Chrome, and the Google Play? Who else is mining American citizens for data? BLU did it, so I would imagine that any major distributor of telephones knows how to do it.
I have no more faith in American corporations than I do in Chinese corporations.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday November 16 2016, @05:43PM
> Who else is mining [snip] citizens for data?
These days? Anyone making any kind of connected app or device, anywhere in the world. Exceptions probably exist, but they'll come to their senses soon.
(Score: 1) by tftp on Thursday November 17 2016, @05:54AM
When you play with Google Play,
Google plays with you.