Your Flashlight Is Spying On You
How could I not click on that link, hey? Where I proceed to learn…
The Federal Trade Commission recently obtained a settlement from Goldenshores Technologies, a company that made a popular flashlight app. The FTC found that the app’s privacy policy had been deceiving users into sharing their location and device information with advertising networks and other third parties. “Brightest Flashlight Free” is one of the most popular apps on Android mobile devices and has been downloaded more than 10 million times.
There’s a flashlight app? Scratch that, of course there is.
Out of curiosity – I’ve never used one – does somebody make a telephone app for smartphones? Or is that a whole different gadget now?
On the American frontier, flashlight apps were called “flashlights.”
ETA: Now that I think of it, the biggest irony of this story is the federal government – with a straight face, no doubt – suing somebody for violating somebody else’s privacy. Maybe it was on the grounds that that’s their job.
The gubmint don’t like competition, Joel. That’s all…
You know, it sounds pretty silly – flashlight app. But there’s a pretty good LED on the front of your phone just sitting there. It can be a useful thing to light something up if your flashlight is out of your pocket.
Of course my absolute favorite app is the paperweight app. It pulls up a picture of a rock, then you set the phone on the papers.
Weetabix:
After I stopped laughing, I suddenly had the thought the “rock app” might actually exist. If not, there’s a goldmine waiting to be, er, mined.
Also, who DOESN’T carry a flashlight at almost all times? It’s part of my going-outside routine: Lessee, I have my phone, knife, gun, water, wallet, keys, radio, etc.
There’s also the door wedge app and the “prop up the wobbly restaurant table” app. I don’t know how I lived without a smart phone.
My kid could use a where did I drop/lose/stolen the phone app.
Personally mine’s in a drawer someplace. If I want to talk to someone, I either do it in person or Skype. I do have friends and relatives who think their lives would end without one. Wonder what I’m missing?