Huq admits GPS location data sharing privacy breach
Huq, a British firm that sells people’s location data, admitted to a privacy breach where some of its data was obtained without user permission. The company received GPS coordinates even when mobile users had explicitly opted-out of the collection of this data on individual Android apps, according to a pp analysis company AppCensus and V ice's Motherboard . The apps in question measur ed Wi-Fi strength, scanned barcodes, among st other things, but appeared to have shared user data for purposes other than those stated. The company appeared unaware of the vulnerability, but t he findings raised questions about the nature and effectiveness of it' s customer/partner compliance checks , which the company said it ran monthly. Civil rights and privacy advocates suggested the problem reflected poor d ata sharing practices and governance by the advertising and marketing industry. System 🤖 Huq 🔗 Operator: Huq Industries Developer: Huq Industries, Kaibits Software, AppSourceHub Country: UK Sector: Technology Purpose: Track user location Technology: Location tracking algorithms Issue: Privacy Investigations, assessments, audits 👁️ AppCensus (2021). What the Huq? VICE News (2021). Location Data Firm Got GPS Data From Apps Even When People Opted Out
- Date it happened
- 2021-10-01
- Organisation involved
- Huq Industries
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