Web User - UK (2019-12-27)

Don’tuse Usethisinstead Don’tuse

Usethisinstead

The popularfree keyboard

appAi.type couldendup

costingyou dearly

Awfulappstoavoidin2 020

COVER

FEATU

RE

27 Dec 2019-7Jan 2020 43

Ai.type

Withmorethan 3 1millionusers,Ai.type

isapopular,customisableon-screen

keyboardformobiledevicesthatlearns

yourwritingstyleandauto-insertsemoji

asyoutype.Thefreeappwaspulled

fromGooglePlayinJune2 01 9dueto

shadybehaviourand,shortly

afterwards,theanti-fraudplatform

Secure-D

–runby

mobile

technology

company

Upstream

–noticeda

spikein

suspicious

activity.This

included

delivering

millionsof

invisibleads

andnon-

human

clicks,and

attemptingpremiumpurchaseswithout

theuser’sknowledge.

Upstreamreported(bit.ly/

upstream4 91 )thattheappwas

subscribing“userstopremiumservices,

depletingtheirmobiledataandadding

chargesthateatintotheirpre-paid

airtime”(pre-paidairtimeissomething

thatispopularinemergingmarkets).

Theappwasalsofoundtobereducing

batterylifeandputtingthedeviceunder

strainasaresultofalltheunseen

backgroundactivity.

SwiftKeyKeyboard

bit.ly/swift491

5 10

OwnedbyMicrosoft, thisAI-driven

keyboardlearnsyourwritingstyle,

helpingyoutowritefaster, aswell as

quicklyaddemojiandGIFs.Youcan

customisethekeyboardsizeandlayout,

choosefrom morethan 10 0themesand

FacebookViewpoints
FacebookViewpointsiscurrentlyonly
availabletoFacebookusersintheUS
butthesocialnetworkhasplansto
expandittomorecountriesin2 02 0,
includingtheUK,soconsiderthisan
earlywarning.Theapp,whichrolledout
toUSusersattheendofNovember
2019 foriOSandAndroid,paysyoufor
participatinginsurveys,tasksand
research.Thecompanysaysitwilluse
theinsightsitgleanstoimproveits
products–includingFacebook,Portal,
Instagram,WhatsAppandOculus–but
won’tshareyourdatawiththird-parties.
Thesocialnetworkalreadyknows
alotaboutyou,sohandingovereven
moreinformation
forpaltryamountsof
cashseemslikea
monumentallybadidea,
especiallygivenhow
littleFacebookhasbeen
proventocareaboutits
users’privacyinthe
past.

RIP-OFFS &SCAMS

Facebook Viewpoints

wantsyou to shareeven

more personal data

Earnmoney by answering questions

anonymouslyinGoogleOpinion Rewards

GoogleOpinionRewards

bit.ly/googleop 491

4.1

SwitchingaFacebooksurveyappfor

onefromGooglemayseempointless,

givenbothtechgiants’data-guzzling

habits,butGoogle’sservice–already

availableintheUK–fullyanonymises

andaggregatesyouranswersandwon’t

usetheresultstoimproveitsservicesor

tailortheadsyousee.Earningscomein

theformofGooglePlaycreditsthatcan

beusedtopurchaseapps,games,

movies,TVshows,magazinesandmusic

fromthestore.However,creditsexpire

afterayear,somakesureyouspend

thembeforethathappens.

It’snotonlymobileappsthatcanputyourprivacyandsecurityatrisk.There

areplentyofbadbrowserextensionsthatshouldbeavoidedanduninstalled,

too.Add-onsyouinstalldirectlyfromGoogleorMozillashouldbesafe–at

least,saferthantheonesyousideloadordownloadfromelsewhere–but

there’snoguaranteethatthat’sthecase.Asaprimeexample,in2 01 8,Google

removedfourextensionsfromtheChromeWebStoreaftertheywerefound

to becovertlyclickingpay-per-clickads(bit.ly/badaddon4 91 ).

Someadd-onssharepersonaldataaboutyou,soalwayschecktheir

permissionsandprivacypoliciesbeforeinstalling.Therehavealsobeen

occasionsinthepastwhereharmlessadd-onswithasizableuserbasehave

beenpurchasedbythirdpartieswhothen addedmalwaretothem.

Insummer 20 19,securityresearcherSam Jadali discoveredeightbrowser

add-onsforChromeandFirefoxthat

collectedandsoldtheuserdataofa

numberoflargecompaniesandmillions

ofindividuals.Theseadd-onswere:

•Branded Surveys(Chrome)

•HoverZoom(Chrome)

•PanelCommunitySurveys(Chrome)

•PanelMeasurement(Chrome)

•SpeakIt!(Chrome)

•FairShareUnlock(Chrome andFirefox)

•SuperZoom(ChromeandFirefox)

•SaveFrom.netHelper(Firefox)

GoogleandMozillaremovedthedodgyextensions from their stores,and

disabled them,butJadalifound theywerestilltrackinguserinfo.If youhave

anyoftheseadd-onsinstalled,you shouldremovethemimmediately.

AWFULBROWSERADD-ONSTOSTOP USING

Microsoft’sSwiftKeyKeyboardhelpsyou

type muchfasteronyourphone