Privacy and smartphone apps: What data your phone may be giving away (CBC Marketplace)

this is marketplace for Canadian one big surprise hey Jason how are you they're about to find out we've hijacked their phones text messages we have access to that everything we also had access to your camera phone what about 3/4 of us own a smartphone with a dozen apps or more but when we download them how much personal information are we giving up I'm in shock now I'm just going through my head what else was i doing on my phone it meet do you feel violated we're putting your privacy to the test like never before we're creating our very own app so that's our homepage using similar privacy policies to popular ones already out there how many apps do you have on both those homes too many to count I guess why well it seems like we're getting a lot from them right convenience entertainment connecting with friends could you live without apps I could but I got an ID but what are the consequences [Music] to find out we're in the tech capital of the world San Francisco to meet up with Domingo Guerra president and co-founder of authority a lot of times we'll download an app thinking it's a flashlight thinking it's a game thinking it's a social media app but it's so much more bundle into it he's analyzed over 4 million applications listen up he's got a message for every phone addict out there an app could access anything they could turn on the audio to listen into your conversations even if you're not using the phone could turn on the front or back camera to take video or pictures and it's with you all the time so it's really the perfect spy tool that's why a thority has agreed to design and build our app it's got to be something fun and free so we decide on a horoscope [Music] it's easy to create but could have big consequences for you in less than a day check this out a new company and a website complete with an app you can download called my daily horoscope time to make our sales pitch in Toronto our app that we're testing out is called my daily horoscope okay free to download you willing to try it out yeah sure I'm sure I could do that our app is only available to Android phone users other platforms won't support it you're a part of an exclusive group that's gonna get a sneak peek at our daily horoscope app which while we get a sneak peek into their lives you're gonna accept of course remember our horoscope app has similar permissions as some of the big companies and everything we have access to is spelled out in our terms and conditions now what we got the figured when I read those terms and conditions you didn't even read them I did I can see like reading skills are allowed was like speed reading that was on point and as a general rule I know what's gonna be in here but I always like to skim through anyways why don't you didn't have to give me a second here are you reading that quickly skimming I'm kidding okay okay they all agree to our terms before downloading the app but do they really know what they're giving us access to their photos call logs text messages location even their microphone it's the application and user License Agreement ah privacy ones the ones that no one ever reads no one ever reads no our app expert is not surprised it's very difficult to follow up with all the terms and conditions if we put ourselves in a normal situation so if you go and buy a shirt at a store and the clerk asks you for your phone number your parents phone number is your parents address your calendar your location for the last 10 days you'd never do it but when an app asks for that permission we have no problem clicking okay yep same thing with our testers but they are eager to read their horoscope you kick it old-school today make a few phone calls instead of text you might uncover some brilliant plans what's troubling you sunshine can find in a friend today and don't worry it'll pass you get a message from an old friend that brightens your day you know you might need to reach out first right and just like that we have instant access to their private life okay so people have downloaded our app let's see what we've got let's check out the call logs for one of our testers yeah can see everything just a quick scan and there's some phone calls to mom Jason what do we got here sticking out his tongue fun selfie one of the things we can do is record a photo from their actual phone let's take a look at this go to remote eyes camera so we're gonna take a picture from the front camera they have no clue right now that we're doing this and let's see if it works Wow yeah that's our tester from photos to text messages to call logs we can even track their location at any moment so shahboz just popped up here we're gonna find out where he is right now so there he is near a golf club in a fire station and we have the actual address but we're not and give you that it's pretty unreal we can see these things on their smartphones we've only skimmed the surface but I'm feeling uneasy knowing their personal information is right at my fingertips [Music] before our big reveal I want to know what the real pros can do we're in Las Vegas about to step into the underground world of hacking tag-along this should be interesting [Music] welcome to Def Con the largest hacker convention in the world where thousands of hackers unite we're about to meet some white hat hackers they have for the greater good to expose flaws in the industry from the fun and frivolous so you've created a player that never loses well why don't we give it a try ourselves here and see how you fare okay I'm getting beat down I don't even know what I'm doing here oh and there it is loser that's me two hacks with high stakes like this gadget called the briefcase of doom it can clone your credit cards so you would become me essentially yeah I would come you until it was no longer financially available because I've already stolen all your money exactly then I want to be somebody else the only thing that you need to do is it's done just like that he can steal my identity time to up the ante Chris and Michelle are human hackers no high-tech gadgets here they say they can hack me using personal info I've shared online you're going to assume my identity right now yes ma'am all right they start by spoofing my number so it looks like they're calling from my phone after just a few minutes um she just got my balance Shh did you just get that yeah as a recording she just got my own balance what I owe on a recording from typing in my phone oh that's it when she gets a rep on the phone she stays in character hi my name is Asha and and I'm hoping you can help me with some account information and so I just wanted to get the account number it king can you are you able to give that to me Oh that'd be so wonderful now she's digging for my banking details did I use my these rmx on that what is it just making debits straight for my accountant is that how it's set up you know what I'm getting married soon so I'm wondering if I can get my fans they added to the account thank you thank you we're planning the wedding but it's really stressful you know it takes no time before this human hacker is able to add someone else to my accounts around and that's not all really super stress right now I apologize can I do a password reset on the account whoa she locked me out Chris says people share a lot of info about themselves online making it easy for hackers to find and use against you first of all is just be cautious of what you put online like this is really the crux of it right so what should and should put online your date of births your home addresses your email addresses you know we tell people sometimes to have like like a throwaway email word to the wise lock your information down on the worldwide web so how easy is it for the pros to hack into my phone it's getting scary it's very it happens all the time security researcher Cameron camp is about to show me just how much I gave away you were sent a link yeah and you clicked on that link I did and so here's the information that came from that a picture of you in Hollywood a fire you're near your house and you look wonderful in that wedding dress and you like taking selfies with your niece it's easy to know a lot about you from what is on your phone funny the things that get you for me it was seeing a picture of my niece on his computer and it doesn't stop there he says he could access my calendar instant messages even my banking details so when it comes to banking my money could be drained and I wouldn't even know it yes you would never know after this eye-opening experience it's time to flip the script how much information are you giving away you guys have access to all my information you guys could have taking pictures at the wrong time can listen to conversations that were private kind of creepy it leaks you feel violated the big reveal on your marketplace what do you need to know about your smartphone head to our Facebook page for more info how your apps can spy on you this is your marketplace we're on our way to meet up with some smartphone users who have agreed to download our new horoscope app using similar permissions as some of the best known apps out there we're about to reveal just how much info were all giving away this is the moment of truth hey Chelsea thank you again you again about a week ago we met for the first time we asked you to download a horoscope app that we created and we talked about the terms and conditions and permission why we didn't talk about a very similar to popular apps like Facebook Twitter snapchat when you accepted our Terms though you became a part of a CDC experiment okay and you gave up a lot of information text messages we had access to that everything needed a lab coat did you end up yes I won yeah you did hey yeah I did everybody would see you gave us permission yeah to look at your call logs does this look familiar to you it does I noticed that there's someone you message all the time called snoop god yeah it's kind of creepy so you have a favorite person that you text and call a lot here's a record we have text messages yeah mm-hmm just wondering if that's where you live that is not where I live that is where my most frequently text first in lives ah we also had access to your camera phone but so we were able to take a photo from your phone oh wow that's oh so this was from your camera oh wow we also had access to your microphone could have turned it on listen to your conversations even recorded them we didn't now I'm just going through my head what else was i doing on my phone throughout the week and I know it wasn't all good so now it's like okay they know what's going through your mind right uh I have no idea you guys have access to all my information you guys could have taken pictures at the wrong time I can listen to conversations that were private knowing where I'm gonna go or what I'm thinking because I'm sending it to a person to via text is kind of unnerving for me you're pretty good at taking selfies um yeah but I didn't do you guys have to because I gave you access you were able to access everything in my phone oh wow keep in mind these are very common standard terms and conditions yeah on apps that we all download all the time you know but we don't really think about just how much we're giving up in the process we didn't dig deep into our testers lives we're just trying to show how invasive it can be it meat do you feel violated even do you accept a privacy policy you're not thinking that they're gonna have access to more control into your phone you're only thinking about hey I want to use this app you also gave us permission to take a picture from your phone of you and that's the picture that we took okay we come from a time we're just like we think we need these apps though I just I'm always holding this right now this wasn't in my hand it feels weird I feel naked almost right as we reveal more details it starts to really sink in we had the ability to own your phone how are you feeling about that look I need to do a better job in skimming cuz I know that I did take a moment to like look for keywords and I just obviously didn't do quite a good enough job you basically put my privacy nice just like they come out it we've accepted our Terms yeah but we all accept terms and conditions but it doesn't get displayed on TV it is what it is already happening why companies want so much access to our lives there's a lot of money in handling the personal information of Canadians sometimes data is referred to as the new oil for companies who's protecting your privacy we ask the man in charge what can you do to safeguard your data find our tips at facebook.com slash CBC marketplace this is market play we give up a lot of personal info when we download apps on our smart phones from our text messages call logs photos and more so what are companies doing with all our data in general we see that free apps are not really free if we look at the real sense of the word we expect them to be free because we're not paying for them but that really means we're paying with our data app expert Domingo Guerra says companies could be collecting more data than they need so they can sell it so if the developer is going to sell your information to a third party like an advertising network then having not just your me your name or your playing habits but also maybe your location is more valued so it helps the developer collect the higher price tag what are some of the privacy concerns when it comes to collecting this data there's a lot of unanswered questions as a consumer as to what is gonna happen with our data how long it's gonna be kept and if there's any way to delete it in the future seems like companies have taken over our lives and our data so what's being done to protect our information we're paying a visit to Canada's Privacy Commissioner to find out our app could access things like text phone calls camera microphone GPS locater the list really does go on if you downloaded our app we would have had access to all of that from your phone doesn't that concern you of course it does Daniel tarea says that's why we all need to think before we install and what about those lengthy agreements companies should make better efforts to explain beens it means essentially shorter privacy policies or notice ins perhaps concentrating on uses of information that the consumer would not expect it sounds like that falls on the companies though what are you as the Privacy Commissioner doing to lead the charge to make sure that's happening one of the issues on which we're consulting is whether we should have stronger enforcement powers such as the authority to order companies to change their practices or even to issue fines as many other countries in the u.s. in Western Europe can do in the US the Federal Trade Commission has fined companies anywhere from 2,500 to $800,000 for privacy violations and in Europe they force businesses to reveal exactly where your information is going but terrianne says all he has the power to do is give out warnings what can you say to Canadians who want you to do a better job in protecting their privacy I think we do a lot with the authority we have and even though all that we do under the current law is to make recommendations this has resulted in changes and practices to companies until there's more action on the federal front sounds like it's up to us to police our own data you don't really know what you're a dream - yeah back with our testers all right here's my application manager we're showing them how they can better protect their data right now all my apps are here I click into Instagram ok permissions and I'm able to turn off the camera if I want to contact location microphone phone SMS storage your app manager is the go-to spot to control what info you're giving out and if there are apps on your phone that you don't use anymore best to delete them cuz they could still be collecting your data now armed with knowledge there's only one thing left for our testers to do I'd like to ask you to delete the my daily horoscope app please no problem uninstall that done and done please remove that app from your phone uninstall it with pleasure and into the garbage there's no such thing as a free app you know that I know that we do have something for free today for you okay and one for you one for Snoop Dogg alright you want to check out what it says yeah a marketplace t-shirt okay and this one's for your favorite person perfect I survived America place mobile app I survived marketplace mobile app I survived the marketplace mobile app good job I survived next week Market Place is on the move going undercover tracking every step of a long distance move that's our stuff sitting there in a movie theater parking lot for an entire weekend that's just unbelievable misleading quotes launched weights they were charging me four times the amount quoted pretty much went in shot can you trust your mover you don't need a special license all that you simply need is a nice-looking website a phone and you're up and right coming soon on marketplace online reviews we all rely on them but are they for real I was fooled by that and I'm I like to think of myself as an educated consumer we're searching for one of Canada's most popular online reviewers I've personally seen numerous people who's mindful of announced during their first week she sells hundreds of testimonials problem is they're all fake I'm a certified financial adviser and I'm a designer and I'm a teacher we want to know why she doesn't why do you do so many fake reviews aren't you misleading people I don't even know who you are get away from Mike why won't you talk to us [Music]

Channel: CBC News

Views: 2,025,384

Rating: 4.8744221 out of 5

Keywords: CBC News, CBCNews, CBC broadcasting media, public broadcasting, news, Canadian News, Canadian Broadcasting Corportation (TV network), CBC News Network, phones, phone, smartphone, smartphones, android, iphone, spying, spies, hack, hackers, malware, data, privacy, cbc marketplace, marketplace cbc, marketplace, apps, phone settings

Id: xx1AUupLn2w

Length: 22min 26sec (1346 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 06 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Willow536]

Disclaimer Mods: This video targets Android phones only, not iOS. Therefore I think it's relevant.

TL:DW CBC Marketplace is a branch of the CBC that does indepth exposes on consumer products and present them to the public. This week, they create an app "my daily Horoscope" in an effort to see just how easy it is for any app developer/person can take charge of your phone and violate your data.

Since This video targets Android phones, I felt this could be used as a remind to protect your data in away way you can.
6.0+ phones can deny permissions. (26.3% of android phones have MM)
5.1.1 and less, should delete apps that are taking up space/useless and consider changing passwords. I'd also like to mention that KK and Lp share about 60% of android devices.

We could use this moment as discussion on what methods of data protection you are using and would recommend your average user that browses r/android.

[u/Pranipus]

Mistake number 1: Installing a Horoscope app. Mistake number 2: Not looking over the permissions too see if they're appropriate. An Horoscope app doesn't need access to call logs, camera etc. Huge red flag.

[u/minusSeven]

Fuck me. (quickly starts checking all the permissions I have given to apps)

[u/kaysn]

This is a topic my friend and I would joke about. How much people just say yes to all the app permissions without much thought. And when the reality of that hits you in the face - how much right you are granting, how much you let strangers have an intimate look at your life, it's invasive. It's scary to think about.

Over the years on Android, I've gotten more familiar and suspicious about the permissions apps are asking for. I now find myself pausing and wondering why an app would ask for a permission if it doesn't need that to work. I went from hundreds of apps to only installing what I need and use and from people I trust. I probably have a lot of security holes still need plugging. Still, that's better than most the people I know.

[u/[deleted]]

In the video they talked about how those apps are not free. It reminded me of my professor that constantly said this. He reminded us that usually you pay with your privacy when you are using those apps.

If something is free, you are the product

Edit: Something anecdotal. A company visited our faculty saying that they want to give out icecream for free. "Just take this qr code, scan it and enter your email adress. We will send you a code that allows you to get your icecream"

Free my ass.

[u/Anarch157a]

I ragequited the video when they said to check their facebook page for more information on privacy.

Privacy information. On Facebook. Yeah, right.

[u/NEWSFIEND34]

When you watch the video the reporter is on a MacBook running windows. Not important just funny.

[u/najodleglejszy]

there's no such thing as a free app

someone's forgetting about FOSS.

[u/RealTedCruz2]

How could you even fall for something like this? A horoscope app explicitly asking for camera access and etc, come on.