The First Horseman of the Privacy Apocalypse Has Already Arrived: Verizon Announces Plans to Install Spyware on All Its Android Phones

[steven36]

Within days of Congress repealing online privacy protections, Verizon has announced new plans to install software on customers’ devices to track what apps customers have downloaded. With this spyware, Verizon will be able to sell ads to you across the Internet based on things like which bank you use and whether you’ve downloaded a fertility app.

 

Verizon’s use of “AppFlash”—an app launcher and web search utility that Verizon will be rolling out to their subscribers’ Android devices “in the coming weeks”—is just the latest display of wireless carriers’ stunning willingness to compromise the security and privacy of their customers by installing spyware on end devices.

 

The AppFlash Privacy Policy published by Verizon states that the app can be used to

“collect information about your device and your use of the AppFlash services. This information includes your mobile number, device identifiers, device type and operating system, and information about the AppFlash features and services you use and your interactions with them. We also access information about the list of apps you have on your device.”

Troubling as it may be to collect intimate details about what apps you have installed, the policy also illustrates Verizon’s intent to gather location and contact information:

“AppFlash also collects information about your device’s precise location from your device operating system as well as contact information you store on your device.”

And what will Verizon use all of this information for? Why, targeted advertising on third-party websites, of course:

“AppFlash information may be shared within the Verizon family of companies, including companies like AOL who may use it to help provide more relevant advertising within the AppFlash experiences and in other places, including non-Verizon sites, services and devices.”

In other words, our prediction that mobile Internet providers would start installing spyware on their customers’ phones has come true, less than 48 hours after Congress sold out your personal data to companies like Comcast and AT&T. With the announcement of AppFlash, Verizon has made clear that it intends to start monetizing its customers’ private data as soon as possible.

 

What are the ramifications? For one thing, this is yet another entity that will be collecting sensitive information about your mobile activity on your Android phone. It’s bad enough that Google collects much of this information already and blocks privacy-enhancing tools from being distributed through the Play Store. Adding another company that automatically tracks its customers doesn’t help matters any.

 

But our bigger concern is the increased attack surface an app like AppFlash creates. You can bet that with Verizon rolling this app out to such a large number of devices, hackers will be probing it for vulnerabilities, to see if they can use it as a backdoor they can break into. We sincerely hope Verizon has invested significant resources in ensuring that AppFlash is secure, because if it’s not, the damage to Americans’ cybersecurity could be disastrous.

Verizon should immediately abandon its plans to monitor its customers’ behaviors, and do what it’s paid to do: deliver quality Internet service without spying on users.

 

By Bill Budington and Jeremy Gillula and Kate Tummarello @EFF

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/03/first-horseman-privacy-apocalypse-has-already-arrived-verizon-announces-plans

 

[virge]

TIP: Don't buy any hardware from Verizon.

[steven36]

19 minutes ago, virge said:

TIP: Don't buy any hardware from Verizon.

Most people dont  they go too Verizon    and use them as a carrier and they lease a phone that is added too you're phone bill. Phones are not cheap yet in the USA  like other places were they just flat out buy them.

 

Verizon have more Subscribers in the USA than any of them and most of the  people lease there phones from Verizon because its the cheapest plain.

http://www.fiercewireless.com/special-report/how-verizon-at-t-t-mobile-sprint-and-more-stacked-up-q4-2015-top-8-carriers

 

[steven36]

 

Quote

 

Verizon to pre-install a 'Spyware' app on its Android phones to collect user data

 

 

If the death of online privacy rules wasn't enough for Internet Service Providers and advertisers to celebrate, Verizon has planned to pre-install spyware on customers' Android devices in order to collect their personal data.

The telecom giant has partnered with Evie Launcher to bring a new application called 'AppFlash' — a universal search bar that will come pre-installed on the home screens of all Verizon Android handsets for quickly finding apps and web content.

AppFlash is simply a Google search bar replacement, but instead of collecting and sending telemetry data including what you search, handset, apps and other online activities to Google, it will send to Verizon.

What's worse? Just like other pre-installed bloatware apps, Android users can't uninstall AppFlash quickly, unless they have rooted their phone.

AppFlash allows you to search inside apps or browse through listings of nearby restaurants and entertainment. The built-in Google Search can also do all these stuff. So, there's nothing this app does that a Google search can’t.

Then what's the need for this app? Of course, selling your data to advertisers or other big data companies and make money — thanks to the US Senate that allowed ISPs to collect and sell your data without permission and banned the FCC from ever passing any rule that would limit these powers.

Here's what the privacy policy of AppFlash reads:
 

We collect information about your device and your use of the AppFlash services. This information includes your mobile number, device identifiers, device type and operating system, and information about the AppFlash features and services you use and your interactions with them. 

We also access information about the list of apps you have on your device. With your permission, AppFlash also collects information about your device’s precise location from your device operating system as well as contact information you store on your device. 

AppFlash information may be shared within the Verizon family of companies, including companies like AOL who may use it to help provide more relevant advertising within the AppFlash experiences and in other places, including non-Verizon sites, services, and devices.

 

What's more? There is a 'Suggested Apps' section on the AppFlash main screen, which means that those apps have paid Verizon a good price to list on the main screen.
 

How to Get Rid of ‘AppFlash’ on Your Verizon Android Phone

Users can get rid of this bloatware in two ways: you can either root your device and remove the app in question, or only disable the app.

1. Root to remove AppFlash from Android: Since the company has made AppFlash a default app on the home screen of its Android handsets to help users search content and browse the internet, the app can not be uninstalled.

So, in order to uninstall AppFlash, you are required to root your Android device and then delete the app from your storage memory.

2. Disable AppFlash without Root: Since rooting is a dangerous process that void your device warranty, you can simply disable AppFlash.

Disabling bloatware apps on newer phones is easy, as Android has a built-in way to do this, which doesn't require any root access.

Just head on to Settings → Apps (or 'Applications' on some phones) → AppFlash. Now open it and click 'Disable,' 'Force Stop' and then 'Clear Data' as well.

 

By Mohit Kumar

https://thehackernews.com/2017/03/verizon-appflash-evie.html

 

 

[humble3d]

http://i.imgur.com/aujo1cP.gif