#Android #Mobile OS Snooping By #Samsung, #Xiaomi, #Huawei and #Realme Handsets
#2021
[...] It is worth noting that much of the functionality of the Android OS3 is provided by so-called system apps. These are privileged pre-installed apps that the OS developer bundles with the OS. System apps cannot be deleted (they are installed on a protected read-only disk partition) and can be granted enhanced rights permissions not available to ordinary apps such as those that a user might install. It is common for Android to include pre-installed third-party system apps, i.e. apps not written by the OS developer. One example is the so- called #GApps package of #Google apps (which includes Google Play Services, Google Play store, Google Maps, Youtube etc). Other examples include pre-installed system apps from Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook and so on.
We intercept and analyse the data traffic sent by the Android OS, including by pre-installed system apps, in a range of scenarios [...]Details of installed apps. Samsung, Xiaomi, Realme, Huawei, Heytap and Google collect details of the #apps installed on a handset. Although less worrisome than #tracking of user interactions with apps, the list of installed apps is potentially sensitive information since it can reveal user interests and traits, e.g. a muslim prayer app, an app for a gay magazine, a mental health app, a political news app. It also may well be unique to one handset, or a small number of handsets, and so act as a device #fingerprint (especially when combined with device hardware/system configuration data, which is also widely collected).
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https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/Android_privacy_report.pdf