3w ago

Amazon secretly tracked consumers through their cellphones, lawsuit alleges

www.yahoo.com Amazon secretly tracked consumers through their cellphones, lawsuit alleges

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Ever feel like your phone is listening to you? Like when you talk about something aloud, and suddenly your web browser serves you ads for what you were talking about? Well, a lawsuit filed Wednesday against Amazon alleges the e-commerce giant has been using consumers phones to...

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This data allegedly included sensitive information like religious affiliation, sexual orientation, and health issues.
We assure you, dear consumer, we must know if you are gay to optimize our software. We pinky promise not to sell your info 🥺
- And more importantly, it's not stored in a public accessible database on the internet. Oops!
  
  Oops, we just leaked you're gay to your unimaginably homophobic government. Please accept our shitty corporate apology with nothing else in return 😊 Thanks for being such a good sport about me threatening your life, hope i see you alive tomorrow!

"Amazon apologized and then said they would be sure to track you openly in the future." Not like anyone's going to do anything about it.

Mega corps gonna mega corp and daddy Sam let's them..... Protect yourself

🎵 You used to track me through my cell phone 🎶

Whocouldhaveseenthiscoming? 😮

✨Uninstall✨

Amazon did this through Amazon Ads SDK, code provided to app developers that was then embedded in their apps.
So...
The mobile site is fine, right?
Also, what if you give the app zero permissions, can it still track you? 🤔
- The mobile site is fine, right?
  The mobile site would have been fine since it's not an app that would have those local permissions, unless your browser had a popup like "Allow Amazon.com to access your location" and you clicked yes. (e.g. to autofill your address)
  what if you give the app zero permissions, can it still track you? 🤔
  This SDK was code embedded in apps by developers. Think of it as part of the app itself. If the app didn't have permission to use your GPS, neither did Amazon's code embedded inside the app.
  
  If the app didn’t have permission to use your GPS, neither did Amazon’s code embedded inside the app.
  I thought it was some weird thing with google advertising APIs in android they Amazon could somehow exploit. I'm glad its not that. However, the biggest question is: Why are people giving Amazon the location permission? Its not like the Uber app, there's zero reason Amazon should need that permission. 🤔

Original article is from KRON, a Bay Area local news org owned by NexStar Media.
At any rate, that's enough for me to uninstall their app. It does make me wonder what apps use their Amazon Ads SDK.

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