Uploaded February 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Websites, apps, and even your desktop applications may be tracking a how lot more of your behaviour than you think. The reason in most cases is simply to deliver a better application from a technical perspective. But sometimes, it's more insidious.
The Wall Street Journal recently called out a few applications for sending sensitive information to Facebook without their users being aware. Facebooks App Events service is geared around building advertising profiles but what about other popular telemetry services like Hockeyapp.net from MIcrosoft, Apple's TestFlight, Google Analytics, just to name a few.
How should developers balance the need to support their creations with user awareness of telemetry and user privacy?
References;
- original call out by the Wall Street Journal, wsj.com/articles/you-give-apps-sensitive-personal-information-then-they-tell-facebook-11550851636?mod=article_inline
- follow-up by the WSJ, wsj.com/articles/eleven-popular-apps-that-shared-data-with-facebook-11551055132?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=4
- details on Facebook's App Events, developers.facebook.com/docs/app-events
- Apple's TestFlight, developer.apple.com/testflight
- Microsoft's HockeyApp, azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/services/hockeyapp
- Google Analytics as a local telemetry service, developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/core/v4/quickstart/installed-py
- Little Snitch is an outbound firewall for macOS, https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html
// MWM Y2 no. 015
Websites, apps, and even your desktop applications may be tracking a how lot more of your behaviour than you think. The reason in most cases is simply to deliver a better application from a technical perspective. But sometimes, it's more insidious.
The Wall Street Journal recently called out a few applications for sending sensitive information to Facebook without their users being aware. Facebooks App Events service is geared around building advertising profiles but what about other popular telemetry services like Hockeyapp.net from MIcrosoft, Apple's TestFlight, Google Analytics, just to name a few.
How should developers balance the need to support their creations with user awareness of telemetry and user privacy?
References;
- original call out by the Wall Street Journal, wsj.com/articles/you-give-apps-sensitive-personal-information-then-they-tell-facebook-11550851636?mod=article_inline
- follow-up by the WSJ, wsj.com/articles/eleven-popular-apps-that-shared-data-with-facebook-11551055132?mod=searchresults&page=1&pos=4
- details on Facebook's App Events, developers.facebook.com/docs/app-events
- Apple's TestFlight, developer.apple.com/testflight
- Microsoft's HockeyApp, azure.microsoft.com/en-ca/services/hockeyapp
- Google Analytics as a local telemetry service, developers.google.com/analytics/devguides/reporting/core/v4/quickstart/installed-py
- Little Snitch is an outbound firewall for macOS, https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html
// MWM Y2 no. 015
