The Federal Trade Commission says that a popular Android app, "Brightest Flashlight Free" has been collecting users' personal data including location and device ID and sharing it with advertisers without their consent.
Targeted advertising may be a good business move to attract more users towards a particular app or service, but consumers are touchy about sharing their personal information with third-party companies for the same purpose. It looks like some companies are willing to go out of their way to help advertisers target their audience. The Federal Trade Commission found that a popular Android app, "Brightest Flashlight Free" has been collecting users' personal data including location and device ID and sharing it with advertisers without their consent.
The Brightest Flashlight Free app in Google Play Store hosts an audience between 50 million to 100 million users with a sweet 4.8-star rating from over a million reviews. The app developers, GoldenShores Technologies have settled the case with FTC on Thursday with no fines imposed. But the settlement prohibits the company from further "misrepresenting how consumers' information is collected and shared and how much control consumers have over the way their information is used," according to Fast Company report.
"When consumers are given a real, informed choice, they can decide for themselves whether the benefit of a service is worth the information they must share to use it," Jessica Rich, FTC's Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection said in a statement. "But this flashlight app left them in the dark about how their information was going to be used."
The Flashlight's terms of service told consumers that information collected by the company will be used within the company but did not mention about sharing the information to third-party networks, like the advertisers.
According to FTC, the app starts collecting the phone's precise location and the device ID right after its installation. This means even before users get to accepting or rejecting the T's and C's of the app, it starts sharing the information with third-party companies.
