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Please, technical people of HN, install NetGuard on your Android phone. You will be shocked where your data goes. GDPR? Ha!
by noja 5y ago
Please, technical people of HN, install NetGuard on your Android phone. You will be shocked where your data goes. GDPR? Ha!
- Graffur 5y agoBased on your comment I have installed it and enabled notifications.. immediately it told me that Facebook attempted internet access. I have 432 other apps so it will be interesting to see what else is phoning home.
- aboringusername 5y ago> immediately it told me that Facebook attempted internet access. I am not sure how that information is useful to you or anyone else, not trying to be snarky, but an internet app wanting internet access...is the expected behavior? Most apps and operating systems communicate over the internet for any number of reasons, heck, apps can even check if you have internet access or not (and respond accordingly, such as caching content to send later on). Doesn't make it weird or suspicious...
- Graffur 5y agoI have the FB app but rarely use it. Why would it be phoning home when I don't have it open?
- kaba0 5y agoTo check for notifications? I’m fairly sure they haven’t implemented a complex AI model to determine that “you are using it rarely”, so the check it out each n minutes is a constant thing.
- KennyBlanken 5y agoOn Android, most notifications are handled by Google Cloud Messaging. The app/site developer pushes a notification to GCM, which then puts up the notification on your device. The ugly white elephant in the room is that Google sees the text of the notification; it's not e2ee'd. Some more privacy-oriented apps implement GCM such that it just "pokes" the app on your phone to say "hey, check in with us" and the app then fetches the notification text etc. directly. But Google still knows that you got an event from what app.
- Graffur 5y agoI have all notifications from FB turned off. Also, that would not be a complex AI model...
- larrik 5y agoDoesn't sound like he was in the Facebook app at the time, though.
- drclau 5y agoSimilarly, for iOS you can use the new "Record App Activity" functionality. See: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28804174 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28804174 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28838394 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28838394
- aboringusername 5y agoI was wondering if you could expand on your comment because I am confused. How is seeing what IP addresses an app communicates with a violation of GDPR? If I can't see the content of the data it's sending but just where it's going, that is not exactly a violation. It's not illegal to communicate with an IP address, there could be many reasons $app sends a request via a US server. Like a postman with an address and an envelope isn't enough to just assume a crime has been committed it works the same digitally...
- noja 5y agoInstall the app. You'll see that it sends personally identifiable information (your ip address) to facebook, before you have opted in. 99% of apps also send usage stats and/or crash information to mixpanel, etc. also without opt-in.
- privacyking 5y agoIf you use any service, sending your IP is mandatory. That's how the internet works...
- silicon2401 5y agoGiving this a try based on your glowing recommendation. Thanks for suggesting it! I'm always interested in improving my privacy measures
- ignoramous 5y agoSee also: https://github.com/offa/android-foss#-firewall https://github.com/offa/android-foss#-firewall (In particular, AfWall+ for rooted device is quite powerful)