Android: Google is spying on you without your permission thanks to its Messages and Phone apps

The data Google collects from its users has been a hot topic for several years, but a recently published research paper may trigger new questions, especially regarding messages and phone calls. Indeed, Douglas Leith, professor of computer science at Trinity College Dublin, explained in a paper: Google was spying on you without your permission using the most basic apps on your smartphone.

Messages and Phone applications on Android smartphones can share your personal data with Google servers without your permission, that would violate European GDPR regulations.

Also read : Google Apps – How to limit data collection on your Android smartphone

Google is collecting your data again without your permission

The document states: “ The data transmitted by Google Messages includes a hash of the message body; this helps connect sender and receiver in exchanging messages “. Leith claims that although Google only takes the 128-bit value of the message hash:it may be possible to reverse the hash and reveal the content of text messagesthus allowing Google to view your purchases.

Douglas Leith adds: “ The data transmitted by Google Phone includes the time and duration of the call; this again makes it possible to connect two phones participating in a phone call “. In other words, Google knows exactly who and when you communicated using your Android smartphone.

Google can also access your contacts’ phone numbers and even incoming and outgoing call logs. The problem is that there are two pre-installed versions of these applications on Android smartphones. No specific privacy rules explaining what data is collectedIt’s something Google still requires from third-party developers.

This isn’t the first time Google has been accused of secretly collecting user data. Moreover, the American digital giant had implemented many measures to hide privacy settings so that users could not disable these settings.

Source : Douglas J. Leith