The cheapest Android smartphones are accused of stealing your personal data! Some entry-level phones sold in emerging countries, such as India, would indeed be equipped with pre-installed applications, designed to siphon your private information: localization, serial number and even your physical address (address MAC).
The Singtech P10, a low cost Android smartphone sold in Myanmar (ex-Burma) and Cambodia, collects personal data from its users to sell to GMobi (General Mobile Corporation), an advertising agency located in India, China, Russia, Singapore and the USA, accuse our confreres of the Wall Street Journal. The application accused of collecting the data has also been spotted on low cost smartphones in China, Brazil, and India.
"GMobi has admitted using this data to display targeted advertisements on some smartphones" continues the American media. The advertising agency "also shares personal data with smartphone builders to help them learn more about their customers" emphasizes the article.
Gmobi works with more than 100 smartphone builders and on more than 2000 different Android devices, boasts the website of the advertising agency. Among the brands associated with GMogi are, for example, a manufacturer of components such as Mediatek, the Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi, the world number 3 Huawei, or Blu, an American company already accused of having integrated malware into its smartphones. These 4 companies still work with Gmobi, explains The Wall Street Journal.
"GMobi software is pre-installed on new smartphones and can only be removed through complex manipulations" notes the media, which stresses that data from emerging-country users are not adequately protected by legislation. Paul Wu, CEO of GMobi, also ensures that the company does not violate any data collection laws. Even sound of Bell on the side of the Chinese company Adups or the Indian firm MoMagic, who are also accused by the Wall Street Journal of breaking the law. "Our data collection is entirely legal," the CEO of MoMagic also provides.