4 ms·

Thank you for your effort. There also appears to be a BM6 variant which explicitly states that you get a personal account and will be able to track your car. h

Thank you for your effort. There also appears to be a BM6 variant which explicitly states that you get a personal account and will be able to track your car. https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0BLG9Z462 https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0BLG9Z462 You can click the images where the third one contains a comparison. Interesting that they pretend that BM6 has this as a special feature since it just is a feature of the app. The QR code [0] on the device points to this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.bm6 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.bm6 So I checked other URLs like https://link.quicklynks.com/bm3.html https://link.quicklynks.com/bm3.html and https://link.quicklynks.com/bm4.html https://link.quicklynks.com/bm4.html, and the latter redirects to https://www.leagend.com/ https://www.leagend.com/ which operates this YT channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqkvyOFP5cXQ02f3h1Ns42Q https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqkvyOFP5cXQ02f3h1Ns42Q [0] http://link.quicklynks.com/bm6.html http://link.quicklynks.com/bm6.html

x1sec 3y ago
Nice find. It appears the application is by the same developer [1]: The play store page for this app states: - No data shared with third parties - This app may collect these data types - Data isn’t encrypted - You can request that data be deleted I just checked the BM2 app (subject of the blog post series) and they have updated with the similar detail [2], updated on the 25th of June 2023, although they say the data is encrypted - will need to verify if this is the case with the latest release. It also still says data not sent to any third party. If they still use the Alibaba AMap SDK - then that's a third party. The Apple app store also now discloses location data is being sent [3] I'd like to think my research / blog posts put pressure on them to start being honest with their customers. This doesn't excuse them though. A battery monitor does not need to know your location. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.bm6 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.bm6 [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.battery.monitor2 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.battery... [3] https://apps.apple.com/au/app/battery-monitor-bm2/id1115492033 https://apps.apple.com/au/app/battery-monitor-bm2/id11154920...
- jacquesm 3y ago
  We'll probably never know but it would be very interesting to get an idea for their motivation to collect this data in the first place. It's a fine line between data collection for commercial reasons and spying. Of course the mis-representation is an issue all by itself and Apple/Google should kill this app for that reason alone if they are going to be consistent.
  - worik 3y ago
    > It's a fine line between data collection for commercial reasons and spying No there is not. Your permission is the line
    - jacquesm 3y ago
      I think you misunderstood my comment.
  - ddalex 3y ago
    Just to map locations of cell towers is really nice as it can be used to augment positioning of other mobile devices
- justinclift 3y ago
  > You can request that data be deleted Requesting is easy... but trusting the whole "Yeah, we definitely deleted that data you asked us about" is where things can be tricky. :/

x1sec 3y ago

Nice find. It appears the application is by the same developer [1]: The play store page for this app states: - No data shared with third parties - This app may collect these data types - Data isn’t encrypted - You can request that data be deleted I just checked the BM2 app (subject of the blog post series) and they have updated with the similar detail [2], updated on the 25th of June 2023, although they say the data is encrypted - will need to verify if this is the case with the latest release. It also still says data not sent to any third party. If they still use the Alibaba AMap SDK - then that's a third party. The Apple app store also now discloses location data is being sent [3] I'd like to think my research / blog posts put pressure on them to start being honest with their customers. This doesn't excuse them though. A battery monitor does not need to know your location. [1] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.bm6 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.bm6 [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.battery.monitor2 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dc.battery... [3] https://apps.apple.com/au/app/battery-monitor-bm2/id1115492033 https://apps.apple.com/au/app/battery-monitor-bm2/id11154920...

jacquesm 3y ago
We'll probably never know but it would be very interesting to get an idea for their motivation to collect this data in the first place. It's a fine line between data collection for commercial reasons and spying. Of course the mis-representation is an issue all by itself and Apple/Google should kill this app for that reason alone if they are going to be consistent.
- worik 3y ago
  > It's a fine line between data collection for commercial reasons and spying No there is not. Your permission is the line
  - jacquesm 3y ago
    I think you misunderstood my comment.
- ddalex 3y ago
  Just to map locations of cell towers is really nice as it can be used to augment positioning of other mobile devices
justinclift 3y ago
> You can request that data be deleted Requesting is easy... but trusting the whole "Yeah, we definitely deleted that data you asked us about" is where things can be tricky. :/