Research: large part of data collected in apps not in the interest of the user
Researchers at the MIT technology institute have discovered that much of the communication between installed Android apps and the maker’s servers is not directly useful to the user. It is unclear what the communication is for.
MIT finds that about half of the data collected in the background in Android applications is used for analytics purposes. That data, usually collected with the standard analytics tools in Android, is used by developers to collect information about how applications are used to improve the software. However, the other half of the data sent has no direct, clear use for the user, according to the researchers. To collect the research data, we looked at the communication channels opened in the 500 most popular free applications in the Google Play Store.
The researchers then determined whether stopping communication with the creators’ servers affected the user experience. They did this by making a modified version of 47 of the 100 most popular Android apps that is not able to send data. In 30 of the 47 applications, or 63 percent, the user experience appeared to be unaffected. Five applications stopped working after the data collection was turned off, while the remaining apps showed only minor changes in the user experience, according to the researchers.
With the study, MIT does not want to suggest that collecting user data is not useful in the vast majority of cases. There may be legitimate reasons for collecting data, even if it does not directly benefit the user. However, the researchers believe that the user should be made aware of what is being done in the background, which in many cases is not happening.
Collecting data in Android applications can potentially harm the privacy of users, but at the same time, collecting and communicating data also affects the battery life of the respective Android device. Users may experience battery drains caused by applications performing various activities in the background.