Secret messages hidden in TV adverts can order smartphones to quietly spy on their owners...
SPY PHONE Secret messages hidden in TV adverts can order
smartphones to spy on people, researchers warn
Popular apps downloaded by millions of people are always
on the look out for clandestine broadcasts which order them to begin snooping
on citizens
By Jasper Hamill 8th May 2017, 11:51 am Updated: 9th May 2017, 8:20 am
SECRET messages hidden in television adverts can order
smartphones to quietly spy on their owners.
That’s the shocking revelation in a new piece of research
which exposes the scary snooping techniques corporations are using to pry into
people’s lives in unprecedented detail.
A team of German academics have noticed a huge growth in
the number of Android apps that are designed to look out for inaudible
“ultrasonic” signals.
These signals contain a code that orders the apps to
begin tracking people’s location, work out what they are watching on television
and even expose intimate secrets about their personal life, such as their
political affiliation or love of pornography.
They have alleged that multinational corporations such as
Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s have fitted the snooping software within apps.
Apps that use the software can “precisely link the
watching of even sensitive content such as adult movies or political
documentations to a single individual – even at varying locations”, the
researchers warned.
“Advertisers can deduce what and how long an individual
is watching and obtain a detailed user profile to deliver highly customised
advertisements,” the team added.
The spy apps use software called Silverpush which is
designed to listen for “audio beacons” which humans cannot hear.
Researchers from the Braunschweig University of
Technology visited 35 high street stores in two unnamed European cities and
found four were secretly broadcasting these signals.
They also found an explosion in the number of Android
apps which are constantly searching for audio beacons.
In April 2015, just 39 apps were fitted with Silverpush.
But the team found a total of 234 apps are now listening
for ultrasonic signals – although this could be the tip of the iceberg.
They did not manage to find television advertisements
which used the “beacons”, but said Silverpush has patented software designed to
listen out for messages broadcast through the telly.
This means the technology could be used in the coming
years.
“The monitoring functionality is already deployed in
mobile applications and might become a serious privacy threat in the near
future,” they wrote.
“Ultrasonic beacons are indeed present in everyday life
without being noticed by most people.”
Last year, the American Federal Trade Commission wrote to
app developers and asked them to clarify if they were using Silverpush.
“These apps were capable of listening in the background
and collecting information about consumers without notifying them,” said
Jessica Rich, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“Companies should tell people what information is
collected, how it is collected, and who it’s shared with.”
We have written to Krispy Kreme comment.
A McDonald’s spokeswoman said: “The UK market does not
use this technology.”
A separate team of researchers recently warned that
smartphone apps are “secretly colluding” to spy on you in terrifying detail.
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