A new report by Cybernews reveals that a Google-made smartphone is sending a vast amount of personal data, including location, phone number, email address, network status, and even potentially sensitive biometric data, to Google every 15 minutes. The phone also attempts to download and run new code remotely.
, it appears that the phone sends a data packet to Google that shares a user's location, phone number, email address, network status, and other metrics to the company. Even potentially more dangerous, the phone will try to download and run new code. Web traffic analysis revealed that the phone sends personally identifiable information to a Google endpoint called"auth." This takes place every 15 minutes.
The report adds that the device requests a check-in every 40 minutes listing the firmware version, whether the phone is using Wi-Fi or mobile data, the carrier whose SIM card is being used on the phone, and the email address of the user. Additionally, while Cybernews did not open the Photo app on the, the phone occasionally contacted endpoints connected to Google Photos' Face Grouping feature without asking for consent.
Researcher Nazarovas explains that this is concerning."These services are especially sensitive as the endpoints are used for processing of biometric data, such as facial recognition. Since there were no photos on the test device, we did not observe any personally identifiable information being sent to these endpoints," he said. The Voice Search feature on the Pixel also connected with Google servers.
Google Smartphone Privacy Data Collection Surveillance
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