What Type Of Personal Information Are You Sending To Others?

Privacy experts are surely choking on their eggnog this season, thanks to a new interactive report from The Wall Street Journal. The venerable publication looked at 101 of the top selling iOS and Android apps and identified what type of data is collected from each. In a word, the results are disturbing. Most of these apps collect some combination of location, unique serial number like identifiers for the phone, and personal details such as age and sex. Others go further and collect a user’s contact information and phone number. Some of this information eventually makes its way to marketers, and God knows where else. The “worst” app on the list is TextPlus 4, which sends to its developer the following information about you:

• Age, Gender
• Contacts
• Zip Code
• Phone ID
• Phone Number
• Username, Password

Fourquare and Grindr also collect a significant amount of data, which many might find troublesome. Unfortunately, most consumers have no way of checking what type of data is collected by apps, except when stories like this are published. You could contact a developer, but that would be time consuming. Emailing Steve Jobs might work, if Apple's CEO is in a good mood. The best bet would be for Apple to post privacy information, by app, in the App Store. But developers might not like this approach. AppAdvice.com readers are encouraged to review The Wall Street Journal piece. Decide for yourself if your favorite apps are collecting too much data on you and your family. If they are, delete the app. Concerned about this news? Leave your comments below.

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