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A question

of trust

Data privacy issues in security

apps and other unlikely places

BY ALEX SUMMERSBY

YOUR RING SMART doorbell, wireless carrier, and

even Mac antivirus software could all be sending

personal information about you to strangers.

Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier

Foundation found that the Android app for

controlling the smart doorbells by Ring, which

Amazon acquired in 2018, is packed with trackers

that harvest personal identifying information and

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TRACKING YOUR ACTIVITY

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Ring’s privacy notice, but data it receives includes

users’ full names, email addresses, device info,

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various snippets of information. The Ring app also

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service, but the EFF says the amount of data

involved is “yet to be determined.”

The EFF emphasizes that these trackers are

operating without the user’s knowledge, consent,

or ability to opt out. “The danger in sending even

small bits of information is that analytics and

tracking companies are able to combine these bits

to form a unique picture of the user’s device,” the

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interact with other apps and use their device, in

essence providing trackers the ability to spy on

what a user is doing in their digital lives.”

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protect users from many data collection practices.

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been hacked. An Alabama resident launched a

class action lawsuit after alleging that a hacker

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advocates also criticized Ring for allegedly

partnering with law enforcement agencies to

create a “surveillance network” of Ring camera

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CARRIERS CAUGHT

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