Revealed: how Whisper app tracks ‘anonymous’ users

[G_j]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/16/-sp-revealed-whisper-app-tracking-users

-Some Whisper users monitored even after opting out of geolocation services
-Company shares some information with US Department of Defense
-User data collated and indefinitely stored in searchable database
-Whisper app tracks ‘secret’ users
-Whisper app rewrites terms of service and privacy policy
-How the ‘safest place on the internet’ tracks its users
----

Paul Lewis and Dominic Rushe
Thursday 16 October 2014 11.35 EDT

The company behind Whisper, the social media app that promises users anonymity and claims to be “the safest place on the internet”, is tracking the location of its users, including some who have specifically asked not to be followed.

The practice of monitoring the whereabouts of Whisper users – including those who have expressly opted out of geolocation services – will alarm users, who are encouraged to disclose intimate details about their private and professional lives.

Whisper is also sharing information with the US Department of Defense gleaned from smartphones it knows are used from military bases, and developing a version of its app to conform with Chinese censorship laws.

The US version of the app, which enables users to publish short messages superimposed over photographs or other images, has attracted millions of users, and is proving especially popular among military personnel who are using the service to make confessions they would be unlikely to publish on Facebook or Twitter.

Currently, users of Whisper are publishing as many as 2.6m messages a day. Facebook is reportedly developing its own Whisper-style app for anonymous publishing. The trend toward anonymity in social media has some privacy experts concerned about security.

..more..

[hobbit709]

1. Just another reason to like my dumb phone even more.