https://hothardware.com/news/samsung-xiaomi-other-android-phones-spying-on-users Skip to content [ ][?] [ ] [Go] Full View Mode PC COMPONENTS SYSTEMS MOBILE IT/ENTERPRISE LEISURE VIDEOS FORUMS BLOGS SHOP SUBSCRIBE SWITCH TO DESKTOP * SIGN OUT HotHardware: The Hottest Technologies, Tested and Burned In HotHardware: The Hottest Technologies, Tested and Burned In SHOP FULL SITE SEND US TIPS JOIN LOG IN Search allLook for all * All * News [ ] [Go] * Features * Blogs * Forums CATEGORIES * Home + Reviews + News + Blogs + Shop * PC COMPONENTS + All PC Components o Recent additions: o Navigate to article AMD Radeon RX 6600 Review: Lower-Cost RDNA 2 For 1080p Gamers o Navigate to article EVGA Z12 Gaming Keyboard, X20 And X15 Mice Review: Value-Priced Arsenal o Navigate to newsitem Meet Intel's Arc GPU Superpowers: Alchemist, Battlemage, Celestial And Druid + Processors o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Intel Core i7-1195G7 Performance: MSI's Prestige 14 EVO Flies o Navigate to article ASUS ZenBook 13 OLED Review: Ryzen 5000-Powered Excellence o Navigate to article Intel Architecture Day 21: Alder Lake, Arc, Sapphire Rapids And More Revealed + Graphics/Sound o Recent additions: o Navigate to article AMD Radeon RX 6600 Review: Lower-Cost RDNA 2 For 1080p Gamers o Navigate to article Far Cry 6 With Ray Tracing And FSR Performance Review: Bring On The Eye Candy o Navigate to newsitem Meet Intel's Arc GPU Superpowers: Alchemist, Battlemage, Celestial And Druid + Motherboards o Recent additions: o Navigate to newsitem AMD Value-Price A520 Motherboard Launch Allegedly Imminent As ASUS And ASRock Pics Leak Online o Navigate to article Intel 10th Gen Core CPUs And Z490 Boards Launch At 5GHz Plus To Combat Ryzen 3000 o Navigate to article Gigabyte Aorus X570 Motherboard And PCIe 4.0 SSD Preview: Ready To Rock Ryzen 3000 + Storage o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Intel SSD D7-P5510 Review: Ultra-Fast PCIe 4 Enterprise Storage o Navigate to article Intel Optane SSD P5800X Review: The Fastest SSD Ever o Navigate to article Kingston DC1500M SSD Review: High Endurance NVMe Storage + Misc o Recent additions: o Navigate to article EVGA Z12 Gaming Keyboard, X20 And X15 Mice Review: Value-Priced Arsenal o Navigate to article Dell UltraSharp 4K Webcam Review: Up Your WFH Video Quality o Navigate to article XPG Spectrix D60G Review: How Fast DDR4 RAM Affects Ryzen * SYSTEMS + All Systems o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 Review: All-AMD Gaming Value o Navigate to article Falcon Northwest Talon Review: Killer Bird Of Prey Gaming PC o Navigate to article Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Review: Beastly 64-Core Performance + DIY o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Behold The Sweet Rock Pi X Powered Serene Screen Aquarium And How To Build One o Navigate to article Build A Great Gaming PC With HotHardware's 2020 DIY System Guide o Navigate to article Exploring AI With NVIDIA's $59 Jetson Nano 2GB Dev Kit + Small Form Factor o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Mac mini 2020 Review: Apple M1 Silicon Performance Deep Dive o Navigate to article Maingear Turbo Review: A Jaw-Dropping Mini-ITX Gaming PC o Navigate to article Intel NUC10i7FNH Review: Powerful, Palm-Sized 6-Core Mini PC + Desktops o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Alienware Aurora Ryzen Edition R10 Review: All-AMD Gaming Value o Navigate to article Falcon Northwest Talon Review: Killer Bird Of Prey Gaming PC o Navigate to article Lenovo ThinkStation P620 Review: Beastly 64-Core Performance * MOBILE + All Mobile o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Alienware X15 Gaming Laptop Review: A Svelte Stunner With Caveats o Navigate to article Dell XPS 15 9510 Review: A Powerful RTX Laptop With OLED Pop o Navigate to article Intel Core i7-1195G7 Performance: MSI's Prestige 14 EVO Flies + Laptops o Recent additions: o Navigate to article Alienware X15 Gaming Laptop Review: A Svelte Stunner With Caveats o Navigate to article Dell XPS 15 9510 Review: A Powerful RTX Laptop With OLED Pop o Navigate to article Intel Core i7-1195G7 Performance: MSI's Prestige 14 EVO Flies + Smartphones o Recent additions: o Navigate to article iPhone 13 Pro Review: Fast, Impressive But Unfinished o Navigate to article Samsung Galaxy Z Fold3 Review: Third Time's The Charm? 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o Navigate to newsitem Instagram Software Code Details New Feature Coming To Help Creators Make Bank * VIDEOS + All videos + 2.5 Geeks + Reviews/How Tos * FORUMS * BLOGS * Shop * Subscribe * Support Independent Tech Journalism, Become A Patron! * TRENDING: * GeForce RTX 30 Restock * iPhone 13 * Galaxy Z Flip3 Review * Sony PS5 SSD * Alder Lake * Intel Arc * Snapdragon Insiders Phone home News by Zak Killian -- Friday, October 15, 2021, 05:14 PM EDT Study Warns Android Phones From Samsung, Xiaomi And Others Are Spying On Users Support Independent Tech Journalism, Become A Patron! samsung galaxy s21 in hand back topimage Everyone who uses an Android phone has probably had some security-conscious acquaintance ask, "don't you know how much data your phone is harvesting?" Most of us shrug it off as one of the unavoidable circumstances of modern life: you want a smartphone, you deal with data harvesting. Still, some folks aren't so willing to make that sacrifice. A new collaborative study from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and Trinity College Dublin in Ireland tested Android-based phones from Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Realme as well as handsets running LineageOS and the open-source, privacy-focused /e/OS. The study found that "even when minimally configured and the handset is idle, the vendor-customized Android variants transmit substantial amounts of information to the OS developer and also third-parties (Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.)" As the paper's authors note, while much has been said about the privacy concerns surrounding specific apps, relatively little has been written about privacy concerns in the operating system itself. After testing, the authors are enthusiastic that this topic needs much more attention, as they found that devices are gobbling up gigabytes of data even when idle. data collected by android phones Credit: Trinity College Dublin More specifically, the researchers found that Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, and Realme handsets collect device and user identifiers, device configuration information, and arguably most damning, user event logging (as a form of "telemetry.") Only Samsung and Xiaomi devices were found to log significant amounts of user interaction event data, though -- the other devices mainly focused on resettable user identifiers. That's not too comforting given that the researchers also demonstrate how gathered data that is linked to these resettable user identifiers (such as advertising IDs) can still be linked back to the original device and user. Furthermore, the researchers comment that the biggest culprit behind data harvesting is in fact Google itself. In the paper, they say that "Google Play Services and the Google Play store collect large volumes of data from all of the handsets," excepting the /e/OS device, as that OS does not use Google Play services. data transmission contact points androidPotential for cross-linking data collection with different handsets. Red circles represent data collectors and green circles represent for what specific service instance the data is collected. Credit: Trinity College Dublin The authors go on to note "the opaque nature of this data collection," commenting that Google doesn't provide any documentation, and that the payloads are delivered as binary-encoded data generated by intentionally-obfuscated code. Apparently, they have been in discussions with Google to have the Android creator publish documentation for this data collection/telemetry, "but to date that has not happened." The study is quite in-depth and filled with technical jargon, but it's still worth a read if you're even tangentially interested in the topic. You can find the PDF document on the Trinity College Dublin website. Support Independent Tech Journalism, Become A Patron! 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