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
Misguided Appeal in Grindr Case Is Latest Threat to Online Free Speech
(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.
Every performance optimization is a grate wait lifted from my shoulders.