NexusHD2 Android Forum

donblazello wrote:Don't think it's connected with privacy violation. It's rather look as collecting statistics and/or making money via redirecting traffic (you now, traffic redirected from tapatalk to site may give tapatalk some revenue from site owner/advertiser).

I disagree.

Google collects location information BUT they tell me about it and allow me to opt out and not use the feature.

Quoord (Tapatalk) never informed me, nor did they give me a choice.

Anyway, can you definitely state that the information is not recorded and stored? Neither can I.

Capturing my data or usage without informed consent is a violation of my privacy in my view.


---
Which is worse: ignorance or apathy? Who knows? Who cares?

NYLimited wrote:

Tapatalk is NOT sending you to the URL listed in the post! Unless my eyes are really off they are sending all my clicks to "link.tapatalk.com/..." which, in turn, will redirect me to the actual link I wanted.

For all those who wonder if Tapatalk could really be doing this here it is! Yes, they are! Recently, Tom placed a url in his post here which is what I used for testing. It is only a few posts back from this one. While viewing the post inTapatalk I tapped/clicked the URL and Tapatalk launched my browser with the following target address:

Code: Select all

http://link.tapatalk.com/api/click?key=a7e5ffb24b9e84f4f4f6bbd88aa4e5b8&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fblogs%2Feconomist-explains%2F2013%2F07%2Feconomist-explains-13&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fandroidforum.tytung.com&subid=c55b872eb5d90e27a6b3a6760753f452

You should note that:

1. Tapatalk directs the browser to link.tapatalk.com instead of the intended URL
2. The string contains a portion identified by "out=" which is the actual URL I should have been going to
3. The string also contains a portion identified by "loc=" which identifies the location or source of the click.
4. The portions marked as "key=" and "subid=" have unknown uses (to me) and they could be used for any number of tracking possibilities

Regardless of Quoord's (Tapatalk's) possible explanation (which has never been offered) my clicked destinations are not their business and sending all that information to their own server does invade my privacy.

Short of someone writing some code to intercept and strip the target URL before it gets to the browser (any devs interested in writing this?) the only recourse one has is not to click but to copy the URL and manually paste it into a browser.

Personally, I find this practice VERY DISTASTEFUL especially by a product which requires purchase!

When dolphin browser was sending everyone's url's to itself (it was matching the url against a database of about 20 other urls for a dolphin browser feature when it should have just loaded the 20 urls down to dolphin's browser and done the check there..it was later fixed) everyone was up in arms. Here's another company basically doing the same thing (not to mention their previous antics of adding ad's to the forums you read after you had already paid for the product when it was ad free) and people appear to be just shrugging and moving on. Have we become that complacent?

Sadly tapatalk's only main competitor is forum runner and they choose not to let you reply/attach attachments in their free version.

I'd donate funds right now for a nice open source forum reader.

Tom wrote:Smartphones reveal shoppers’ movements.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economis ... xplains-13

There are two absolutely effective ways to prevent such tracking: turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on your devices, or turn them off altogether.

Cheers
Tom

My Note 2 to you

You forgot "Generate a random mac id every time you boot up the phone and/or enable wifi." (the open source program is for linux and works quite well but I assume someone could compile it for android. The method it uses to alter the mac id should be identical on both linux/android. With that enabled they may be able to track you for that visit but they would be unable to link it to all your previous or future visits.

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/macchanger-ut ... ility.html



*update* Apparently android ALREADY has an app that will do similar.... https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... emac&hl=en

If you've got an Android device, you've probably used Google's handy one-click authentication shortcut, that handy little button that lets you sign into various Google service sites without having to enter your password. It's super convenient! For you and for hackers.

Craig Young, a researcher at security firm Tripwire, did some digging into how the system really works, and turned up some scary details in a presentation at Def Con last week. The underlying system—called "weblogin"— works by creating a special token that identifies you to various Google services. But it can be stolen easily, and when it is, it'll work for just about anything.

Read the complete article in Gizmodo.

NYLimited wrote:For all those who wonder if Tapatalk could really be doing this here it is! Yes, they are! Recently, Tom placed a url in his post here which is what I used for testing. It is only a few posts back from this one. While viewing the post inTapatalk I tapped/clicked the URL and Tapatalk launched my browser with the following target address:

Code: Select all

http://link.tapatalk.com/api/click?key=a7e5ffb24b9e84f4f4f6bbd88aa4e5b8&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.economist.com%2Fblogs%2Feconomist-explains%2F2013%2F07%2Feconomist-explains-13&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fandroidforum.tytung.com&subid=c55b872eb5d90e27a6b3a6760753f452

You should note that:

1. Tapatalk directs the browser to link.tapatalk.com instead of the intended URL
2. The string contains a portion identified by "out=" which is the actual URL I should have been going to
3. The string also contains a portion identified by "loc=" which identifies the location or source of the click.
4. The portions marked as "key=" and "subid=" have unknown uses (to me) and they could be used for any number of tracking possibilities

Regardless of Quoord's (Tapatalk's) possible explanation (which has never been offered) my clicked destinations are not their business and sending all that information to their own server does invade my privacy.

Short of someone writing some code to intercept and strip the target URL before it gets to the browser (any devs interested in writing this?) the only recourse one has is not to click but to copy the URL and manually paste it into a browser.

Personally, I find this practice VERY DISTASTEFUL especially by a product which requires purchase!

i think people not smart enough to figure this.
nobody are mad about they action.
sad

Remember the "smart" trash cans that popped up around London a few years ago? Placed throughout the city, the LCD-equipped cans broadcast info and ads (mainly ads) to passersby. Now, the company that makes them is testing new functionality for the two-year-old devices, allowing them to track and analyze the signals from nearby smartphones. How come the worst part of the Minority Report future is the one we get first?

According to Quartz, the company that owns the trash cans—Renew—is partnering with the makers of a new technology called Presence Orb, an analytics tool that tracks consumers via their Wi-Fi connected devices (like “a cookie for the physical world,” the company explains). Embedded in the trash cans, the system can detect devices and observe their behavior, using a unique ID code called a MAC address that is embedded in every Wi-Fi enabled gadget. Orb is accurate down to a 50th of a second, and tracks everything from the speed of pedestrians to what make of phone they’re using.

Read the complete article by Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan in Gizmodo!

@NYLimited
Did Tapatalk answered you why they are tracking links and why they wont' inform users about it? I saw you asked bout it at they support forums.

donblazello wrote:@NYLimited
Did Tapatalk answered you why they are tracking links and why they wont' inform users about it? I saw you asked bout it at they support forums.

I, too, sent them an email which has not been replied to. I have quoted my original post to them, requesting a response, and it, too, has been ignored.

Methinks that resending our inquiries with CCs to their partners, corporate or otherwise, should be the next step. Bringing the issue to their attention (presuming that they do not already know), might apply sufficient pressure.

donblazello wrote:@NYLimited
Did Tapatalk answered you why they are tracking links and why they wont' inform users about it? I saw you asked bout it at they support forums.

Nobody from the company addressed it.

One or two (unofficial) replies were posted but I he topic is, essentially, dead over there.