In a recent released research paper, titled “Mobile Handset Privacy: Measuring The Data iOS and Android Send to Apple And Google” [PDF], Douglas Leith, chairman of computer systems in the school of computer science and statistics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, documents how iPhones and Android devices phone home regardless of the wishes of their owners.
According to Leith, Android and iOS handsets share data about their salient characteristics with their makers every 4.5 minutes on average.
“The phone IMEI, hardware serial number, SIM serial number and IMSI, handset phone number etc are shared with Apple and Google,” the paper says. “Both iOS and Google Android transmit telemetry, despite the user explicitly opting out of this.”
These transmissions occur even when the iOS Analytics & Improvements option is turned off and the Android Usage & Diagnostics option is turned off.
Such data may be considered personal information under privacy rules, depending upon the applicable laws and whether they can be associated with an individual. It can also have legitimate uses.
Of the two mobile operating systems, Android is claimed to be the more chatty: According to Leith, “Google collects a notably larger volume of handset data than Apple.”
Within 10 minutes of starting up, a Google Pixel handset sent about 1MB of data to Google, compared to 42KB of data sent to Apple in a similar startup scenario. And when the handsets sit idle, the Pixel will send about 1MB every 12 hours, about 20x more than the 52KB sent over the same period by an idle iPhone.
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Leith’s tests excluded data related to services selected by device users, like those related to search, cloud storage, maps, and the like. Instead, they focused on the transmission of data shared when there’s no logged in user, including IMEI number, hardware serial number, SIM serial number, phone number, device ids (UDID, Ad ID, RDID, etc), location, telemetry, cookies, local IP address, device Wi-Fi MAC address, and nearby Wi-Fi MAC addresses.
This last category is noteworthy because it has privacy implications for other people on the same network. As the paper explains, iOS shares additional data: the handset Bluetooth UniqueChipID, the Secure Element ID (used for Apple Pay), and the Wi-Fi MAC addresses of nearby devices, specifically other devices using the same network gateway.
“When the handset location setting is enabled, these MAC addresses are also tagged with the GPS location,” the paper says. “Note that it takes only one device to tag the home gateway MAC address with its GPS location and thereafter the location of all other devices reporting that MAC address to Apple is revealed.”
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Google also has a plausible fine-print justification: Leith notes that Google’s analytics options menu includes the text, “Turning off this feature doesn’t affect your device’s ability to send the information needed for essential services such as system updates and security.” However, Leith argues that this “essential” data is extensive and beyond reasonable user expectations.
As for Apple, you might think a company that proclaims “What happens on your iPhone stays on your iPhone” on billboards, and “Your data. Your choice,” on its website would want to explain its permission-defying telemetry. Yet the iPhone maker did not respond to a request for comment.
Source: Android, iOS beam telemetry to Google, Apple even when you tell them not to – study • The Register
Robin Edgar
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