NSA spying through Angry Birds, Google Maps, leaked documents reportedly reveal
NSA spying through Angry Birds, Google Maps, leaked documents reportedly reveal: The NSA and its British counterpart are tapping popular smartphone apps such as Angry Birds to peek into the tremendous amounts of very personal data those bits of software collect — including age, location, sex and even sexual preferences, according to new reports from the New York Times and The Guardian.
Citing confidential documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden, the reports detail efforts to supplement data collection from cell phone carriers and smartphones by tapping into “leaky” apps themselves.
“Some apps, the documents state, can share 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,” the Guardian said.
That information can come from a user profile, which may contain martial status — options included “single,” “married,” “divorced,” “swinger” and more, the report said.
Both spy agencies showed a particular interest in Google Maps, which is accurate to within a few yards or better in some locations and would clearly pass along data about a phone owner’s whereabouts.