What is not stripped, however, is the profile data social network users publish about themselves, including where they live, their marital status, sexual orientation, education, and information about their families – all of which the NSA and GCHQ can apparently collect from these leaky apps. But it may be possible to snag this data in transit, before it is stripped from the photo file.
One slide, titled “Golden Nugget!” and dated May 2010, explains that, when a smartphone user uploads a photo to a social network like Facebook, it can provide NSA spies with the user’s phone type, buddy lists, a “possible image,” and “a host of other social working data as well as location.”Īs Guardian reporter James Ball notes, many social networks strip photos of their EXIF metadata (which includes information like location and time a photo was taken, among other things). The data compliments the kind of information the agency can already glean from social networks. What kind of data, you ask? According to the Guardian, it can include “users’ most sensitive information such as sexual orientation – and one app recorded in the material even sends specific sexual preferences such as whether or not the user may be a swinger.” A new batch of reports based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden show that the National Security Agency and GCHQ, its counterpart in the UK, have been working to develop ways to access a wealth of personal data through so-called “leaky” apps, which, like Angry Birds, apparently transmit this information over the Internet insecurely.
Your Angry Birds habit may reveal more than just how you like to spend your free time. Original article: Apps like ‘Angry Birds’ may be slingshotting your personal data to the NSA
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