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At least 11 popular apps are sharing your personal data with Facebook, according to research done by the Wall Street Journal. Allegations are regardless of whether the user has connected their Facebook account to this iOS app or does not have a Facebook account at all, the transmission their personal data is inevitable.
Some iOS apps carry personal data related to health which is considered to be incredibly sensitive. The research by the Wall Street Journal suggests all the 11 apps are on Apple’s iOS platform, but out of all the apps, one has Android version that is secretly engaged in personal data sharing practice.
Out of 11 iOS apps implicated here is the list of four:
- Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor
- Breethe- Meditation app
- Flo Health Inc.’s – Flo ovulation and period Tracker
- A Real-estate app, owned by Move Inc.
The other six were declined to be listed by the WSJ.
BetterMe: Weight Loss Workouts is the one app that is sharing their user’s personal data with Facebook both from its iOS and Android platforms. In response to these reports, Facebook claims that the data that are being sent are company data that Facebook doesn’t need or even request for. Some or all the apps in question are sending some user data that might actually violate Facebook’s own policies.
The real purpose behind these apps sharing their own user’s personal data is that they are using the tools of Facebook to examine these personal pieces of information.
The app developers involved in this discreditable behavior responded to the Wall Street Journal by agreeing to remove the policies involving data collection; although, some developers did not respond at all. The Instant Heart Rate: HR Monitor app sends its user’s heart rates to Facebook immediately after seconds of registration. Whereas the Flo Period and Ovulation Tracker app send information about their user’s menstrual cycle data to Facebook. Though in some cases the data shared was anonymized but not all data is really converted and some data was straightforwardly connected to a particular user through ad tracker IDs.
There was information about Facebook’s Software Development Kit being more widespread than we thought of. Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of the office of New York made an announcement this afternoon directing towards the Department of Financial Services and other agencies of the State to immediately start an investigation into practices of Facebook with the Third parties.
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