Thursday, 24 August 2017

AccuWeather deflects blame after selling users’ data, even if they opt out

AccuWeather doesn't know how to issue a reassuring statement. The company attempted to quell users' concerns a day after security analyst Will Strafach published a blog post earlier this week explaining how the free iOS weather app collects users' GPS coordinates, the name and BSSID (or MAC address) of their Wi-Fi router, and whether their device has Bluetooth turned on or off. AccuWeather sends this data to a company called Reveal Mobile, which sells the information to retailers with the promise of helping "understand the path of a consumer and where they go throughout the day."

To put it more plainly: AccuWeather basically handed over its users exact locations —even when they didn't opt out of providing location data — in the form of...

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AccuWeather deflects blame after selling users’ data, even if they opt out appeared first on http://www.theverge.com

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