A third-party app can use Grindr to expose your exact location
Back in March, a report revealed that Grindr suffered from flaws that could expose its users' personal information. The company issued a statement in response that said its location tracking feature is more akin to a square on an atlas and can't pinpoint users' exact location. According to a new investigation by Queer Europe, though, Grindr can still expose people's personal data through a third-party app called "Fuckr," which was released in 2015 and can locate up to 600 Grindr users within minutes. And by "locate," we mean it can tell where users are with an accuracy of 6 to 16 feet -- accurate enough to tell which establishment, house or even room they're in.
The free third party app is built on top of Grindr's private API, giving it access to the gay dating app's database. It uses a technique called "trilateration" to find users, allowing anyone with access to it a way to follow people around as they go about their day. All someone has to do to find users nearby is to use Fuckr's filters, which can narrow people based on their ethnicity, relationships and other data. Yes, because the app can tap into Grindr's database, it can reveal not only users' locations, but also their photo, body type, ethnicity, HIV status, last HIV test and even their sexual position preference.
Previously: Researchers Find Data Leaks in Instagram, Grindr, Oovoo, And More
Grindr Shared Users' HIV Status With Third Parties
Related: Gay dating app Grindr plans to go public after Chinese parent gives go-ahead
How Grindr Is Reinventing Itself as More Than Just a Dating App
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CNET reports that University of New Haven researchers found some of the most popular Android apps transmitting and storing unencrypted images, chats, screenshots and even passwords.
From images and videos to passwords and mapping data, apps like Instagram, OKCupid, TextPlus, and GroupMe are sending large amounts of user data unencrypted over the web. The researchers estimate the number of affected users at 968 million.
The university's Cyber Forensics Research and Education Group is documenting their findings in a series of videos on their YouTube channel
Grindr Admits It Shared HIV Status Of Users
The same-sex dating app Grindr responded Monday to revelations that it allowed third parties to view the HIV status of users, saying its customers had the option not to supply sensitive information. Grindr acknowledged that information on users' HIV status, including the date they were last tested for the virus, was shared with two companies – Apptimize and Localytics, who were paid to monitor and analyze how the app was being used.
News that the app was sharing the data first appeared in a story by Buzzfeed on Monday. Buzzfeed wrote: "Because the HIV information is sent together with users' GPS data, phone ID, and email, it could identify specific users and their HIV status, according to Antoine Pultier, a researcher at the Norwegian nonprofit SINTEF, which first identified the issue."
In a point-by-point response on its Tumblr page, Grindr said: "It's important to remember that Grindr is a public forum. We give users the option to post information about themselves including HIV status and last test date, and we make it clear in our privacy policy that if you choose to include this information in your profile, the information will also become public." Grindr also said that the information was encrypted and that the company "has never, nor will we ever sell personally identifiable user information – especially information regarding HIV status or last test date – to third parties or advertisers."
San Francisco's ABC7 spoke to Alec Nygard, a user of the app, who said it allows the option of posting "negative," "negative on PrEp," "positive," or "positive-undetected status."
Also at CNN, The Guardian, Bloomberg, and TechCrunch.
Related: Health Insurer Aetna Accidentally Exposes Customers' HIV Statuses With Transparent Envelope Windows
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @10:42AM (1 child)
six hours a week ... hardcore and professional ... Swedish ("This sort of thing ain't my bag, baby!") ... prosthetics firm ... posterior ... backside scanned ... 3D-printed inserts ... extreme use ... bodies ... needs
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Sunday September 16 2018, @11:36PM
Kinda sorta funny - but not good enough for a funny mod. Try harder next time, mmmmkay?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @12:02PM
This is like the recent accusation that FaceBook is evil.
Shocking, just, shocking.
(Score: 5, Funny) by Gaaark on Sunday September 16 2018, @12:49PM (3 children)
They came for the Grindr users but I am not a Grindr user so I said TOGTFO!
Then they came for Pornhub users and I shat my pants.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @02:21PM
Shut up and get on the train, Jew.
(Score: 4, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @04:09PM
... and it trended #1 on the site!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @04:26AM
So posting descriptions of your kink videos here.
Please.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @01:44PM (3 children)
... being able to locate all the faggots will make it easy to round them up so they can be taken to the camps and shoved into furnaces to generate electric
power for charging the vehicles used to round up faggots.
As you can see, this would be a sort of feedback loop, in which the faggots themselves would assist in the round up.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @01:12AM (2 children)
You know that your inherent aggression towards homosexuals reveals your latent homosexual tendencies.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @01:55AM
What makes you so sure they're latent?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @11:46AM
That's a myth. It does clearly reveal that he is a moron and an asshole though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 16 2018, @09:51PM
Notorius Bumm Driller on the Loose!
(Score: 3, Funny) by McGruber on Monday September 17 2018, @01:52AM (2 children)
That's accurate enough to tell that the user is in a Confesssional, but not accurate enough to tell on which side.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @04:28AM (1 child)
Can it tell which party is on their knees?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday September 17 2018, @04:31AM
Yes.
The built in altimeter and motion fetching sensors could be used to determine which party is on their knees.
Or just look then up on the net to see which one is the priest/young boy/male muslim/whatever
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 17 2018, @10:35AM (1 child)
You would think that people would have learned a lesson from the Ashley Madison fiasco.
On the other hand, this is not the 1950's and mores have evolved. Maybe Grindr users don't care that others know what they're doing and where they're doing it.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday September 17 2018, @01:56PM
Some men having an affair might use Ashley Madison and would rightly be concerned about the breach.
Other men having an affair might be equally concerned about the Grinder "breach" for the same reason -- so their wife doesn't find out where they are.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.