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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: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 16 2016, @04:41PM
I'm sure I have mentioned BLU around here and I have considered getting one myself. Too bad.
However, if you make a habit of wiping phones clean when you get them, then there's only the hardware left to mistrust, and that's all made in China anyway.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Informative) by Hairyfeet on Wednesday November 16 2016, @10:09PM
I have one and they are great phones, really built like tanks. If anybody bothered to RTFL it clearly says its a third party app included in some models...well who in the hell doesn't uninstall that bloatware shit? that is the first thing I do with a new phone from ANY company, get rid of all the third party crap.
One of the best things about BLU phones IMHO is just how little third party crap is included when compared to Samsung or LG, it took me less than 2 minutes when I got my phone to have a completely stock Android phone and when I updated the OS? They didn't reinstall the crap I removed.
So in a couple months I'll be buying me another BLU as mine is getting a bit long in the tooth (and sadly its getting harder and harder to find ROMs for anything but the $400+ phones) and I'm sure it'll be as rock solid as my last one whereas both my LG and my Samsung barely lasted a year. If you are like me (and many of my construction/road crew customers) that really abuse your phone? I have yet to find a phone that can take punishment like a BLU. Hell one of my customers dropped his from 20 feet up in a bucket truck, it bounced off of 2 tree limbs before hitting the ground and all it did was put a little scratch on the screen.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 0, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 17 2016, @01:53AM
In many phones you cannot uninstall or disable bundled apps.
No root access means they cannot be force uninstalled.
Rooting may brick the device