Goal Collection Android data unclear '

Tech November 23, 2015 12:45

- A large part of the data collected by app makers on the use of their applications, does not directly benefit the users. That have announced researchers from Institute of Technology MIT.

Android Apps regularly gather on the background data usage. The aim is to give insight into how appmakers used their programs so that they can improve. Analysis of the 500 most popular free applications on the Android Play store by MIT shows that about half of the collected data is not relevant for these purposes. The researchers also examined whether stopping the transmission of this data had an impact on the user experience. For this, they fit 47 of the 100 most popular applications, after which they were unable to communicate with the servers of the makers. In 30 of the apps there appeared to be nothing to worry about. Five stopped working completely and the remaining applications there were only minor changes which were not relevant according to the researchers to use the programs. The MIT researchers, moreover, do not suggest that all data collected is useless, it is not only useful for the user. However, they argue that users should be made aware of this.