A study conducted by computer scientists at Trinity College Dublin has revealed the extent to which Google collects data from the more than 1bn Android smartphone owners who use its phone call and text messaging apps.
The research by Prof Dough Leith of the CONNECT SFI Research Centre for Future Networks at TCD raises concerns for the privacy of Android users due to the volume and opaqueness of Google's data collection practices.
The study found that the Google Messages app informs Google whenever a message is sent or received, providing data including the time a message was sent as well as a unique hash or ID code that would allow Google to identify whether two handsets are communicating and at what times.
Messages also transmits the sender's phone number to Google, so by combining data from communicating handsets the phone numbers of both are revealed.
The Google Dialler app for phone calls, meanwhile, tells Google whenever a phone calls is made or received along with the time and duration of the call, which again would allow Google to discover whether two handsets are calling one another, at what times and for how long.
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Both apps also tell Google about user interactions, such as whenever the user views an app screen, an SMS conversation or searches their contact, giving a detailed picture of app usage over time to be reconstructed by Google.
The data sent to Google is tagged with the handset Android ID, which is linked to the handset’s Google user account and so often to the personal details -- email, phone number, credit card details etc -- of the person involved in a phone call or SMS message.
There is no opt-out from this data collection for Android users, while previous studies by Prof Leith's group noted that the volume of data sent by Google Play Services to Google servers is up to 20 times the amount of data sent by iPhones to Apple.
Prof Leith expressed surprise at seeing "such obviously sensitive data being collected by these Google apps," calling the lack of opt-out for users "extremely concerning".
"This work was triggered by our study of the privacy of COVID contact tracing apps," Prof Leith added. "While we found these apps to generally be quite privacy respecting, our measurements highlighted the tremendous volume of data being sent to Google by Google Play Services on Android phones.
"Hopefully our work will act as a wake-up call to the public, politicians and data regulators. It really is time we started to take meaningful action to give people full information on the data that leaves their phones, details as to what it is being used for and, most importantly, the ability to opt out from this data collection."
TCD said that Google, in light of the report's findings, plans to make changes to the Messages and Dialer apps. Business Plus has asked Google for comment.
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