Lawsuit Accuses Warriors' Mobile App of Eavesdropping On Fans -- Even When Not In Use (cnet.com) 60
An anonymous reader writes: A lawsuit is accusing the Golden State Warriors' app of spying on fans in order to determine a user's precise location in order to serve targeted ads. The creepiest thing about it? The lawsuit says the app does this even when it isn't in use. It claims the app secretly uses the microphones from the mobile device running the app to listen in and record user conversations. CBS Local reports: "The app, which delivers up-to-date scores, schedules and news, asks for permission to access the microphone on users' phones. But, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in San Francisco federal court, it doesn't disclose the extent to which it listens in. If true, the allegations would violate the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which prohibits the 'interception and disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications.' The lawsuit, which seeks class action status, seeks statutory damages equal to 'the sum of actual damages suffered plus any profits defendants earned through its unlawful conduct.'" "Even more disconcerting, the app turns on the microphone (listening and recording) any time the app is running," the filing reads. "No matter if a consumer is actively using the app or if it is merely running in the background: the app is listening."
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more than likely the microphone part is to listen for tones coming from game broadcasts for cross sell opportunities.
there are a few companies offering this sort of "immersion" technology.
If they're real Warriors fans (Score:1)
they'll do whatever they can for the team. Even letting the team listen in on their lives 24/7. If the fan isn't doing anything wrong, they have nothing to hide. Especially from their beloved team.
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Re:Apple can do NO wrong (Score:5, Informative)
so move along, nothing to see or hear.
So, couple of things. First, it's the Android version that is the target of this lawsuit, not the iOS version. Second, on iOS anytime an app is using the microphone, the phone's status bar turns read and if the application is in the background there is a persistent, flashing notification under the status bar showing which application is using it. Tap the notification and it takes you back to that application.
Android (Score:1)
...asks for permission to access the microphone on users' phones.
At least it asks - iOS. Too many Android apps want blanket permissions on everything. Just why does a fucking [insert here] app need my location, access to my contacts, camera, media files, microphone, and anything else? The stock quote apps are some of the worst. A metronome app was just as bad.
Very rarely does a developer require no access to anything.
Which means, I do not load your app on my phone. Unfortunately, Android has no way of denying access but yet allows the use of the app like iOS does. I'v
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Android has no way of denying access but yet allows the use of the app like iOS does
I agree it's a shame this doesn't exist in vanilla, but it's hardly a unknown feature in the Android space. You can mod fine grained permission controls into any ROM, and Cyanogen has a nice implementation out of the box.
Not possible with Free software (Score:1, Insightful)
If a free program wanted to do this, it would be readily visible and available for inspection to determine what exactly it's doing.
And then any users of the free program could simply edit this functionality out and distribute the edited binary freely. Just another day in the proprietary software hell.
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But haven't you been listening? Apps vetted and only available through 'stores' are safer...
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Nobody says "gratis" when they mean "free as in beer". Except you and Richard Stallman, that is.
You are unnecessarily cluttering this discussion by insisting that your definition of a word is the only correct one while everyone else here understands what is meant by what is being said.
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Open source is not free. Free means free, gratis means free of charge. Use clearly defined words to avoid being wrong.
But those are definitions that are only used in the FSF and OSS worlds. 99 out of 100 people, if they hear the term "free software" think it means freeware, not that it comes with source code. That's what free means.
Even in the FSF world, few people use 'gratis' either. They'll use 'free as in beer' vs 'free as in speech.'
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That's the fantasy world that free software proponents* like to trot out. While it's technically correct, in the real world, however, very few people have the ability, motivation, or time to code-review every application they use.
* Not that it should change my point one whit, but I also am a free software proponent, but not for that dubious reason.
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If a free program wanted to do this, it would be readily visible and available for inspection to determine what exactly it's doing.
And then any users of the free program could simply edit this functionality out and distribute the edited binary freely. Just another day in the proprietary software hell.
Uh, it is a free program. Maybe you are conflating "Free" with open source? They are not the same.
Define "listening" (Score:3, Insightful)
As far as I can tell from the articles, the only thing that is provable that is going on is that the app has constant access to the microphone. That's a bug and potential concern for anyone using the app, but doesn't on its own point to anything nefarious.
Also, why would an app use your MICROPHONE instead of your LOCATION data to determine your location? Are the claimants suggesting the app uses a voice-to-text converter and parses through the logs to find out that someone said "Wal-Mart" and then target them with Wal-Mart ads? Why wouldn't they just use location data instead to see if you're near a Wal-Mart? I mean, I know the old adage about "if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail," but that would be taking things to a whole new level.
Unless there's something missing from the reporting on this article, it sounds like an overly litigious person/group crying wolf over what is at worst developer incompetence and is at best a bug.
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Indeed. California is unique in that audio recordings without permission of all parties is a felony, nor a misdemeanor, or a civil offense. So, actually, not "jail" so much as "prison."
If it's actually recording.
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What it's doing is listening to audio signals above human hearing range (let's say 22khz) your ears can't hear it but your mic can. Signal360 plays a binary tone @ 22khz through the venue's audio system that the app picks up, decodes and does something like flashing your screen in sync with pregame videos or popping up a promotional offer.
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What it's doing is listening to audio signals above human hearing range (let's say 22khz) your ears can't hear it but your mic can. Signal360 plays a binary tone @ 22khz through the venue's audio system that the app picks up, decodes and does something like flashing your screen in sync with pregame videos or popping up a promotional offer.
Just how good is this mic? I only ask 'cos the microphones I've seen on cellphones battle to get anything above 5KHz, nevermind 22KHz...
Re:Define "listening" (Score:5, Informative)
If you look up "WebCamGate" from 2010, when a school district was taking 60,000+ photos of students at home in their bedrooms by activating their school laptops, the administrator telling subordinates to conceal the surveillance, wrote back to a complainant with a note almost like that, "Why would we do such a thing? We would never do that!" Look up the name "Dimedio". So you'll have to forgive our skepticism.
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I mean, I know the old adage about "if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail," but that would be taking things to a whole new level.
I thought it was "if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a skull".
I used to work for a startup that did this. (Score:2)
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Waiting for secret command (Score:4, Informative)
Put somebody in jail (Score:2)
Hey, this ECPA thing allows for imprisonment of up to five years! Let's send a message!
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This whole model of corporations thinking that we're going to just use any old crap they put out and let them do what they want with our files, force us to log on to their servers, force us to watch ads etc. is going to end in one way only.
Intelligent people will simply stop using the shit altogether.
There are lots of very intelligent people who, through lack of information or understanding, or simple lack of caring, are users of 'this shit'. I know some of them.
It turns out that even smart people can be lulled into a stupor when they have the full bellies and constant diversions present in a bread 'n' circuses society. Entertainment and infotainment are the new opiate of the masses. That's why we have the corporate system of governance we now 'enjoy' throughout the developed world.
Why do you still own a smartphone? (Score:2)
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2016:
Believing in 'god'
How's that two-digit IQ working for you? Is ignorance really bliss, like they say? I wouldn't know, LOL.