EFF Posts on XDA

The Ring Doorbell App reportedly sends a lot of data to third-party trackers

The Ring Doorbell App reportedly sends a lot of data to third-party trackers

January 28, 2020
Making your home smarter will nearly always compromise on privacy in some ways, no matter how mundane that product may be. A smart home assistant such as the Google Home or Amazon Echo will undoubtedly be an aid in any home in some ways; but for many, the privacy trade-offs simply aren't worth it. But...
EFF Misguidedly Chastises Google for Further Hiding App Ops

EFF Misguidedly Chastises Google for Further Hiding App Ops

December 16, 2013
Back in Android 4.3, a new tool was discovered that for the first time gave users first party granular permissions control for their installed apps. This was, of course, App Ops. As time went on, many users quickly took a liking to the hidden feature, not realizing that the feature was only accessible in the...
Meet ACTA, the Global Threat

Meet ACTA, the Global Threat

January 27, 2012
ACTA, Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, is another bill which tramples all over your civil liberties. The Internet is having a hard time fighting off bills that threaten creativity, like PIPA and SOPA, but now something far worse has come to play. In October 2007, the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan decided to branch together and...
Exemption Legalizing Rooting And Jailbreaking Will Expire, Let’s Petition To Renew It!

Exemption Legalizing Rooting And Jailbreaking Will Expire, Let’s Petition To Renew It!

January 26, 2012
In 2010, the US Copyright Office added an exemption to the DMCA, which fully legalized rooting, jailbreaking, unlocking and whatever else you do with your smartphone that is not intended by their manufacturers. While that was certainly good for modders and hackers, of which there are plenty in our forums, exemptions only last for three...
EFF Releases IQIQ to Decode Carrier IQ Profiles

EFF Releases IQIQ to Decode Carrier IQ Profiles

December 21, 2011
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is hard at work on the Carrier IQ issue.  EFF volunteer Jered Wierzbicki reverse-engineered the Carrier IQ Profile file format from WBXML to human-readable XML.  (A Profile is a set of instructions telling IQ Agent on your phone what information to collect, and when to send it back to Carrier IQ.) He then created...