Alert, There Is A Smartphone Screen Recording Application

Alert, There Is A Smartphone Screen Recording Application

Researchers from Northeastern University did not find evidence related to smartphones that can record user activity for the sake of targeted advertising (targeted ads).

Previously this is busy discussed because Facebook registered a system patent that can secretly enable the microphone in the smartphone users.

If implementing this system, the Facebook can eavesdrop on any user activity, such as what ads they watch.

Although there is no strong evidence, researchers say there is a possibility that app developers can see all the activities that users perform by recording (screenshots) of the smartphone screen.

As quoted source that the researchers tested 17,260 applications to find out about it. As a result, more than 9,000 apps turned out to have permission to access the camera and microphone.

Therefore, the app developer is likely to hear what the owner says when talking to others, including his favorite brand.



Gizmodo reported, the researchers used 10 Android smartphones and run automated programs that connect with each application. Then they analyze the data traffic taken by the developers from the smartphone through a particular application.

As a result, applications cannot do what humans do, such as creating a username and password to log into an app. Researchers also see what file types are sent, especially when files are sent to other parties.

In this way, the researchers say there were screenshots and video footage of user activity being sent to third-party domains.

For example, one smartphone installs the GoPuff app, a junk food ordering and shipping app, then records its user activity.

The recording was then sent to an affiliated domain with Appsee, a mobile analytics company.

Just to note, in the recording screenshot, there is an address where the customer and his personal information.

On the Appsee page, with pride mentioned they have the ability to record what users do on their respective smartphones. Unfortunately, according to researchers, users do not realize that the activity on the smartphone has been recorded by a number of applications.

One member of the research team David Choffnes also said he did not see any evidence that the smartphone microphone is able to know the chat users secretly.

"What is not understood, it turns out that many are tracking the daily lives of users. No need a smartphone camera or microphone," he said.