Is your phone spying on you?

Headlines warning that smartphones could be spying on us make for alarming reading. But is there any truth to the claims? And what should you do to minimise the risk? Here’s the GHI view…

Smartphones and other smart devices have had their fair share of bad press recently, with claims they can monitor calls and even snoop on our face-to-face conversations. But why would anyone want to listen in as you discuss what to cook for dinner? Just as information about our internet searches or the websites we visit can be used to target us with online ads, the theory is that keywords collected from our conversations could be passed on to advertisers.

We asked GHI tech expert Carrie-ann Skinner to dig deeper. She used the Google, Facebook and Instagram apps on two different smartphones, giving them access to the microphones. Over two weeks, within ‘earshot’ of the phones, she made several mentions of a make-up brand, a kitchen appliance and a holiday destination she’d never searched for online.

‘In this instance, there was no evidence that these three apps were monitoring conversations for keywords and using this to serve up targeted ads,’ she notes. ‘Your web history, on the other hand, which includes details about your online searches, and the personal information

you share with apps, helps advertisers build an excellent picture of your habits.’

One study by researchers in the US* did show that some Android apps collected information that the user probably wasn’t expecting them to. But instead of accessing the microphone to eavesdrop on conversations, they picked up information about what appeared on the phone’s screen. The study found that some collected photos from the phone, or used its camera to record video clips of screen activity. This showed what the user bought or searched for, and even recorded their postcode.

Smartphone users in the UK have an average of between 60 and 90 apps** on their phones. That could mean quite a lot of information is being gathered about each of us. Whether or not that bothers you, it’s good practice to check what access you’ve granted to the apps you’ve already installed.

Most will ask for personal information such as your name and email address, and many need access to certain features on your phone to do what they are designed to do. A weather app, for example, will need to know your location. Some, though, may ask to tap into your calendar or photos, or even your calls and contacts, when they don’t need to. You can find out what each app on your phone has access to in the phone’s Settings menu.

Carrie-ann explains, ‘On an iphone, go to Settings, select Privacy, then tap on one of your phone’s features in the list that appears: the camera, for instance. You’ll then see a list of apps that have requested access to it. Use the slider buttons to select which can have access. On an Android device, go to Settings, choose App Permissions, then select the feature and use the slider to grant or revoke access.’

And next time you want to download an app, check its privacy policy first. This should tell you what data it will collect about you, how it will be stored, and who it will be shared with. If you don’t like what you read, or if an app doesn’t have a privacy policy, it’s best avoided.

GHI TIP

Turn off Ad personalisation in your Google Account Settings, so your online activity shared with Google, and apps you use your Google account to sign-in with, is not used to personalise adverts.