Northeastern researchers wanted to find out how free web browsers and apps compare with respect to protecting user’s privacy.
The team investigated the degree to which each platform leaks personal information (things like passwords, locations, birthdates, genders, etc) to data analytics companies and advertisers. Not surprisingly, they found that overall apps leak more identifiers, as they have more access to that information. However, what’s interesting is that apps typically leak just one more identifier than a website for the same service. “In fact, we found that in 40 percent of cases, websites leak more types of information than apps,” said David Choffnes, who lead the research.
The types of information that get leaked vary. For example, the research showed that websites more frequently leak names and locations, but only apps leak a device’s unique identifying number.
In other words, both websites and apps leak information but to varying degrees. For this reason, the researchers think that there’s no one answer to which platform is best for everybody.
The goal of the study was not to scare people, but to issue a call to action. “Part of that action could be that users start requesting or even demanding the privacy and transparency considerations they want from the companies they interact with,” explains Choffnes.
Source: Northeastern University via ScienceDaily (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160912151632.htm)
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