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[PeaceWave]

This message was self-deleted by its author (PeaceWave) on Mon Sep 8, 2025, 09:46 PM. When the original post in a discussion thread is self-deleted, the entire discussion thread is automatically locked so new replies cannot be posted.

[Tetrachloride]

1. it seems to me that the captured data size is

exaggerated as much of the data was already known.

that said, additional precision was gathered.. on the whole, no surprises.

personally i am curious about the profit angle of the makers

[Bluetus]

2. Remember the simple rule: "If the product is free ...

Then YOU are the product."

[Dem2theMax]

3. I wonder how many people are like me?

Never put a game app on my phone, and never will.
And I delete every single one that Verizon and Samsung try to force down my throat every time there's an update.

[mucholderthandirt]

7. I only have one game on my phone, it's a Scrabble clone. I hate putting apps on my phone.

These people follow you around everywhere, using your data to make money, selling you out to the highest bidder. Scum.

[Bluetus]

8. Games are a threat for sure. Banking / transactional apps are too.

The apps themselves may be relatively safe. But anything on your phone is prone to be intercepted. Let's say you check on your bank balance in a coffee shop. If one isn't using best practices, the password to your bank account could be intercepted, then a person could use that from a different device to get into your accounts.

I have tablets, phones, and laptops that I use on public WiFi. The only apps I put on those devices are things that have no connection at all to my financial accounts.

But then, I still pay for many routine things using cash, just because when I charge something, I immediately get bombarded with ads that seem to have no end. For some reason, Big Data thinks I have been looking to buy gutters and a new metal roof for years. I have not searched for either in over 5 years, but the ads still come.

[Dem2theMax]

9. I have and use banking apps.

But only because the post office kept losing my snail mail that had checks in them. It's happened too many times. I never connect to public Wi-Fi. Luckily, I have unlimited data, so I use my phone as a hotspot. Never use my phone for transactions when I am out and about. Only when I'm home. The only thing I ever do when I'm sitting somewhere, waiting for an appointment, is read DU!

I pay cash when possible, keep my credit cards in an RFID case, (learned that one the hard way.)
All of those cards have alerts set on them so if anything suspicious happens, I receive a text immediately. I also don't have any kind of pay app on my phone. Never will.

I use Firefox and Duck Duck Go, block AI on everything possible, and never veer into anything unfamiliar, never open an unfamiliar text or email and never click on strange links. And of course, never answer a call when I don't know who it is. Being a suspicious person has done well for me in the information age!

I do wonder about the ads that show up. There have been specific times when I have looked up something, and the next thing I know, it's in every ad I see. Then there are other times when ads show up when I haven't looked for anything, but I've talked about the items.
Is my phone listening to me?

[Bluetus]

10. Very good advice. And VPNs are an option

Without a VPN, your internet provider or phone company can see every search you make, as well as track your physical movements.

With a VPN, your ISP doesn't see your search activity, at least not is a way that can easily be correlated to you.

https://www.expressvpn.com/blog/what-does-a-vpn-hide/

[nilram]

4. Article at the link is from 2014.

Though I agree with the sentiment that the fewer apps on your device, the better.

[obamanut2012]

5. Eleven-year-old article

[mucholderthandirt]

6. I mute the commercials. Bunch of has-been or never been "celebrities" pushing some idiot game.

It's a joke. It says in the small print something about "in app purchases" which are ads. FFS