Google has been looking to fix the privacy concerns of Android users but a new research paper claims the search giant has been receiving user data from apps like Google Dialer and Messages. These two apps come pre-installed on Android phones, and the study titled, “What Data Do The Google Dialer and Messages Apps on Android Send to Google?" says the apps send data to Google, that too without taking permission from the user.
The study has been compiled by Douglas Leith, who is a computer science professor at Trinity College.
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As per the details given in the report, Leith claims Google picks up data related to the user, which includes SHA26 hash of messages, along with their timestamps, contact details, call logs of both incoming and outgoing, and the duration of all calls as well.
And even though the content is stored in a hash form, Leith claims Google can easily reverse the hash to know the content of the messages. He also implies that Google has been quietly avoided giving privacy policy on data collection for its Dialer and Messages app, which is a clear violation for most parties.
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Leith came out with the study last year, after which he duly informed Google about his findings of these apps. He suggested the search giant made some critical changes to avoid such lapses in privacy. For its part, Google offered to explain the reasons for receiving data from the Dialer and Messages app.
It said the message hash is collected to detect message sequencing bugs. And the phone logs are taken to help improve its automatic detection of one-time passwords that are sent over the RCS platform.
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While these explanations don’t really give Google the clean chit it desires, we are hoping that future Android versions and app store policies bring a much-needed change, so that users feel safe while using its apps.
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