Android Flashlight App Tracked Location Data

You may want to think twice before downloading that innocuous-seeming free flashlight app from the Google Play Store — the Federal Trade Commission says it might be spying on you. According to the Washington Post, some 100 million Android users who downloaded “Brightest Flashlight Free” had no idea the app was also logging tracking data that could be used to determine their exact location.

“This whole area has been a concern of ours because there is a proliferation of apps and still a lot of work to do to protect privacy,” Jessica Rich, head of the FTC’s consumer protection bureau told the Washington Post. 

The app indicated that tracking data would only be used for internal purposes. The FTC says that was a lie. Additionally, the flashlight app offered users the option to deactivate location tracking but in reality, it continued to collect user data that the app makers would then sell to third parties.

If you’re wondering why someone would be willing to pay to find out where you are, you’ll be creeped out to discover that your location data is only part of the equation. Advertisers can use your tracking data along with information gleaned from other apps to piece together a picture of who you are and what you’re interested in. The aggregated data can then be used to deliver targeted ads in real time.

“The blending of data sounds like a futuristic thing, but it’s really starting to happen, and the amount of data being created from smartphones makes it even easier,” Nicole Ozer, the technology and civil liberties director at the ACLU office in San Francisco told the Washington Post. “These are mainly free apps but are costing people when it comes to their personal and sensitive information.”

While the app’s creator, Idaho-based Goldenshores Technologies, likely generated considerable profits through the sale of user data, the FTC is not requiring the company to pay a fine. Instead, the company must rewrite its privacy policy, as well as delete any personal information illicitly gathered from users.