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Los Angeles Accuses Weather Channel App of Covertly Mining User Data

posted by mrpg on Friday January 04 2019, @06:30PM   Printer-friendly
from the bleak-outcome dept.

"exec" writes:

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

[...] One of the most popular online weather services in the United States, the Weather Channel app has been downloaded more than 100 million times and has 45 million active users monthly.

The government said the Weather Company, the business behind the app, unfairly manipulated users into turning on location tracking by implying that the information would be used only to localize weather reports. Yet the company, which is owned by IBM, also used the data for unrelated commercial purposes, like targeted marketing and analysis for hedge funds, according to the lawsuit.

The city’s lawsuit cited an article last month in The New York Times that detailed a sprawling industry of companies that profit from continuously snooping on users’ precise whereabouts. The companies collect location data from smartphone apps to cater to advertisers, stores and investors seeking insights into consumer behavior.

[...] “If the price of getting a weather report is going to be the sacrifice of your most personal information about where you spend your time day and night,” said Michael N. Feuer, the Los Angeles city attorney, “you sure as heck ought to be told clearly in advance.”

-- submitted from IRC

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:56PM (2 children)

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday January 05 2019, @01:56PM (#782485) Journal

    If you accept the T&Cs,

    "If". It's pretty clear he doesn't accept the T&Cs even while supposedly "accepting" them in a supposedly legal sense.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:43PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 05 2019, @05:43PM (#782563)

    Ok, if we assume that someone accepted the terms and became their bitch despite griping about it...that user is still a bitch. Your argument is of no substance nor merit.

    One who reads the EULA or terms and rejects them and further does not agree to them so that the product may be used may henceforth not be called a bitch. That person is worthy of respect, even if all the cool kids are ignorant and get to use the app.

    Ignorance is bliss, and it also gets you tracked.