Apple, Google to ban location tracking firm that sold data to US military

In response to The Journal, X-Mode said it was "re-evaluating" its government contracts, but added that those contracts prevented third parties from linking device location data to personally identifiable information like a name or address.

This BS rings so hollow, anyone spewing it should be punched in the face repeatedly.  It's entirely too well known that personally identifiable info like name and address isn't even close to being necessary to identify an individual.  It's pablum for the tech illiterate.  

It's good that they're both getting rid of X-Mode, but there are still many more data brokers out their hoovering up and selling as much data as fast as they can before they get caught.  When they get caught they'll trot out that same tired BS about not linking blah blah blah.

This of course raises many questions. How’s it even possible that this passed both Google’s and Apple’s app approval process? I was under the impression that iOS was secure and apps go through thorough checking before they’re approved. How can more than a hundred apps slip through using the same malicious api. The unidentifiable part is total BS. If it’s unidentifiable then why focus on a single race or religion. I hope this instance is followed by a massive lawsuit against Google and Apple.

bloggerblog said:

This of course raises many questions. How’s it even possible that this passed both Google’s and Apple’s app approval process? I was under the impression that iOS was secure and apps go through thorough checking before they’re approved. How can more than a hundred apps slip through using the same malicious api. The unidentifiable part is total BS. If it’s unidentifiable then why focus on a single race or religion. I hope this instance is followed by a massive lawsuit against Google and Apple.

You may be misunderstanding the situation. The API isn't malicious, in and of itself.  It collects location data like many other API's.  So there's nothing slipping through and nothing to catch.  The problem occurs after the fact when X-Mode sells that collected data to other parties like defense contractors.  There are a number of SDK's that devs use to make the job of app development easier.  Unfortunately, they rarely know what every component of that SDK does, and worse they have no idea what companies like X-Mode do with the data harvested via their dev kits.

Lawsuit for what?  Not being omniscient regarding the activities of a company that chose to subvert a normal software function.

CloudTalkin said:

bloggerblog said:

This of course raises many questions. How’s it even possible that this passed both Google’s and Apple’s app approval process? I was under the impression that iOS was secure and apps go through thorough checking before they’re approved. How can more than a hundred apps slip through using the same malicious api. The unidentifiable part is total BS. If it’s unidentifiable then why focus on a single race or religion. I hope this instance is followed by a massive lawsuit against Google and Apple.

You may be misunderstanding the situation. The API isn't malicious, in and of itself.  It collects location data like many other API's.  So there's nothing slipping through and nothing to catch.  The problem occurs after the fact when X-Mode sells that collected data to other parties like defense contractors.  There are a number of SDK's that devs use to make the job of app development easier.  Unfortunately, they rarely know what every component of that SDK does, and worse they have no idea what companies like X-Mode do with the data harvested via their dev kits.

Lawsuit for what?  Not being omniscient regarding the activities of a company that chose to subvert a normal software function.

Nicely schooled. 👏🏾