Called Ray-Ban Stories, the smart glasses will give users a new way to capture photos and videos as well as share their adventures, listen to music and take phone calls. Put it simply, it’s a wearable that will give you everything you need to keep you connected to your social life.

TIKTOK TOPS FACEBOOK AS MOST DOWNLOADED APP OF 2020

Dashveenjit Kaur | 12 August, 2021

The thing is, the technologies that Facebook and Ray-Ban are using in their smart glasses are not entirely new. In fact, they have been around for at least a decade. Unlike the augmented reality glasses which are used in some industries, all smart glasses do is just keep you connected and provide you the ability to record whatever you see.

Facebook is working on augmented reality (AR) glasses as well. Project Aria is a new research project that will help Facebook Reality Labs build the first generation of wearable augmented reality devices. In Singapore, it was reported that Facebook plans to collect data needed to build its software and hardware by having its employees use them — with consent granted of course.

It started last year in August when the social networking company renamed its Oculus virtual reality and augmented reality division to Facebook Reality Labs – highlighting a greater focus on augmented reality applications going forward.

Source – Facebook

Recharging the smart glasses market

Facebook is not the first company to develop smart glasses — nor will it be the last. Just a couple of days after the launch of Ray-Ban Stories, China’s Xiaomi, too, launched their own smart glasses. However, unlike Ray-Ban Stories, Xiaomi’s device not only takes photos but can also display messages and translate text in real-time.

Apple has been rumored to be looking at releasing its version of smart glasses. But the rumors also say that it may not happen till the second half of 2022 or even 2023. Samsung is also rumored to develop its own smart glasses, implemented with augmented reality (AR) technology. It’s now only a question of when will these devices be launched and made available.

But how successful can the smart glasses market be? Despite reports showing that the market is poised to grow by US$69.1 million between now and 2025, with the biggest market being North America, the key driver for this is the adoption of AR in the glasses. The AR market is growing at a much faster pace compared to the smart glasses industry.

The reality is, companies like Google, Amazon, and Snapchat have all invested and release similar products. However, none have been as successful as they thought they would be. Both the Google Glass and Snap Spectacles were not able to penetrate the market as much as they wished they had.

Perhaps with Facebook, the tone might be a bit different, especially with the advancements in social media and the partnership with a renowned eyewear maker. And with Facebook actively advocating their Metaverse ecosystem, the glasses may just fit the bill.

A cheaper alternative to Facebook Smart Glasses

Costing US$299, the smart glasses will be available in selected retail stores in the US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and the UK. There hasn’t been any update on when they will be available in Asia, but the thing is, will these smart glasses be successful here?

An example of a cheaper alternative. Source – Lazada

Asian manufacturers are known for their innovation. And it is not surprising that smart glasses like the one from Ray-Ban are already widely available online and in some gadget stores. Compared to a pair of Ray-Ban Stories, China-made smart glasses can be bought online for less than US$20.

These smart glasses may not carry the branding of Facebook and Ray-Ban but can provide users the same function. Available in a variety of shapes and sizes, these smart glasses can be connected to a mobile device via Bluetooth and snap high-resolution pictures and videos as well.

Everything is visible

Despite the affordability of smart glasses, it is not a product of high demand. And the reason for this is because of privacy. Using smart glasses to take pictures might be something new for Facebook, but it also raises serious privacy concerns.

Facebook has already been involved in some high-level breaches involving its users’ data. Previously, over half a billion Facebook users have had their data, including names, birth dates, and phone numbers have been leaked to a hacker website and it has been happening since 2019. Having been left unnoticed, experts claim the breach to be the biggest one yet by the social media giant. 

In Italy, where the smart glasses will also be available, Garante, the Italian data protection authority has requested Facebook to provide it with clarifications related to the smart glasses. Garante would want to determine and guarantee that the product complies with the nation’s privacy laws.

According to Facebook, smart glasses are designed with privacy in mind. For example, a white LED light appears when the camera is operational and users are in control of data and content. However, users would only use sunglasses during a bright sunny day, unless they feel like wearing shades at night. So wouldn’t the light be not so visible, especially if pictures are being taken from afar?

Also, can Facebook assure that the smart glasses can’t be remotely accessed by cybercriminals? As a wearable IoT device, smart glasses are tools that can be potentially hacked or compromised by cyber threat actors.

If mobile and IoT devices in factories can be easily compromised, what more smart glasses?

With that said, however, the future of smart glasses pretty much relies on the consumers themselves. All the stats, facts, and privacy concerns have been made known — it’s now up to them to decide if using such devices is worth the privacy risk.

At the end of the day, some will see it as a fashion statement, while others will see it as an infringement of privacy.

The post Facebook Smart Glasses – haute fashion statement or privacy infringement device? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

But even before India was alleged to have used the spyware to spy on political leaders and other humanitarian personalities, the subcontinent had already begun implementing stricter rules on the use of technology, especially on social media apps.

INDIA’S NEW SOCIAL MEDIA RULES EXPLAINED

Dashveenjit Kaur | 1 June, 2021

In May this year, India implemented new laws governing the use of social media in the country. It saw applications like WhatsApp, Facebook and Google relook their approach for doing business in the country.

Last year, India banned about 50 Chinese-based apps including social media giant TikTok over security concerns. Most of these apps have left the Indian market but some are gradually returning, after incorporating changes requested by the government.

WhatsApp, which was also one of the entry points used by Pegasus to track its victim, has long been a security concern in India. With over 500 million users in India, the government has requested the app-maker to make several changes over the years and now look towards a new approach to solve the problem.

The Indian government has launched its own messaging app. (Photo by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP)

Last week, the Indian central government launched Sandes, an instant messaging platform that works like WhatsApp. Available on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store, the app is being touted as India’s answer to a secure messaging platform.

According to reports, the app was developed in India and is currently being used by government employees and linked agencies. Users only need a valid mobile number and email ID to work. Sandes is also integrated with NIC email, DigiLocker, and e-office.

“Sandes is an open source-based, secure, cloud-enabled platform. It is hosted by the government and on government infrastructure, ensuring the control remains with the government only. Sandes boasts features such as one-to-one and group messaging, file and media sharing, audio-video call, and e-gov application integration,” said Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Minister of State for Electronics and IT, India.

Traceability… or privacy?

In 2018, India proposed that WhatsApp make its messages traceable, especially at a time where false information was circulating a lot in India, resulting in extreme circumstances including losses of lives. These traceability requirements have now been included in India’s new IT rules.

The law also required social media firms to appoint local officers to address on-ground concerns as well as be given the power to take down posts deemed offensive.

Citing privacy concerns, WhatsApp decided to sue the Indian government in a Delhi court. The IT Rules 2021 has even affected other social media platforms such as Twitter.

At the same time, WhatsApp also announced that it has blocked two million accounts in India for violating the limits of the number of times messages can be forwarded in India.

Using advanced machine learning technology, the submissions were made as part of its first monthly compliance report under the nation’s new IT rules. WhatsApp bans around eight million accounts monthly worldwide.

Another tech giant, Google, has also expressed commitment to complying with India’s new IT rules and local laws.

Can traceability co-exist with end-to-end security?

Whilst the Indian government touts “end-to-end security” for Sandes, it contradicts their stance that messages ought to remain traceable under the new laws.

If the content on a messaging app is to be traceable, the approaches taken to identify the information of the sender would require third-party access.

The Internet Society explores several possible approaches, but the consensus amongst cybersecurity experts is that end-to-end protection and traceability are inconsistent and cannot co-exist — at least, not with current methods.

Furthermore, there is doubt that the approaches listed could be reliably used to attribute a message to its originator.

Experts say that third-party access methods would break end-to-end encryption by enabling third-party access to content, and weaken the security and privacy protections for users.

While it is uncertain how the uptake of Sandes will be in the subcontinent in the weeks to come, the government is taking a strong stance on making sure they have sufficient visibility on content to ensure there is minimal offensive content, prevent abuse and misinformation.

The post India’s Sandes takes on WhatsApp, citing security and misinformation concerns appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

From creating highly-personalized customer experiences to detecting fraud in reams of financial data, AI has powerful applications in business. In its many forms, it’s probably the most talked-about technology today.

But in the wrong hands, AI can be a fearsome tool.

A recent study set out to explore the threats posed by AI, analyzing current risks posed by its use in applications for crime and terrorism. Funded by UCL’s (University College London’s) Dawes Centre for Future Crime, the study identified 20 ways AI could be used to nefarious ends over the next 15 years, asking 31 AI experts to rank them based on their potential for harm, including money they could make, how easy they were to use, and how hard they were to stop.

The experts – who represented AI experts from academia, the private sector, police, government, and state security – agreed that deepfake technology represents the largest threat.

As deepfake technology continues to advance, specialists said that fake content would become more difficult to identify and stop, and could assist bad actors in a variety of aims, from discrediting a public figure to extracting funds by impersonating a couple’s son or daughter in a video call. 

Such uses could undermine trust in audio and visual evidence, the authors said, which could have great societal harm. Worryingly, both those aforementioned scenarios have played out – or similar versions of them.

Last year, the potential power of AI fakery drew mainstream focus, when a deepfake video emerged on Facebook of the platform’s founder Mark Zuckerberg discussing the power of holding “billions of people’s stolen data.”

The same year also saw scammers leveraging AI and voice recording to impersonate a business executive, adding his “slight German accent and other qualities” to successfully request the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars of company money to a fraudulent account.

Javvad Malik, Security Awareness Advocate at KnowBe4, told TechHQ: “The use of technology to impersonate a chief executive has some scary implications, especially given the fact that it is not inconceivable that coupled with video, the same attack could be played out as a video-call.”

The rise of deepfakes has been rapid within the last couple of years. A report by Deeptrace in 2019 found that videos had doubled in quantity in year-on-year, with nearly 15,000 uploaded online. The ‘deepfake phenomenon’, the researchers said, could be attributed to an increase in the commodification of tools and services that lower the barrier to non-experts. 

Discussing the results of the latest report, lead author Dr. Matthew Caldwell said that with people now spending large parts of their lives online, “online activity can make and break reputations.”

“Such an online environment, where data is property and information power, is ideally suited for exploitation by AI-based criminal activity,” he said.

“Unlike many traditional crimes, crimes in the digital realm can be easily shared, repeated, and even sold, allowing criminal techniques to be marketed and for crime to be provided as a service. This means criminals may be able to outsource the more challenging aspects of their AI-based crime.”

ARE THESE THE EDGE-CASE TRENDS OF AI IN 2020?

Sam Fletcher | 21 July, 2020

Aside from fake content, five other AI-enabled crimes were judged to be of high concern. These included using driverless vehicles as weapons, helping to craft more tailored phishing messages (spear phishing), disrupting AI-controlled systems, harvesting online information for the purposes of large-scale blackmail, and AI-authored fake news.

Other crimes of lesser concern included the sale of items and services falsely labeled as ‘AI’, including in cybersecurity and advertising, which could help drive profits.

Those of lowest concern included ‘burglar bots’ – small robots used to gain entry into properties through access points such as letterboxes or cat flaps – which were judged to be easy to defeat, for instance through letterbox cages, and AI-assisted stalking, which, although extremely damaging to individuals, could not operate at scale.

The post Deepfakes are ranked the biggest AI threat by experts appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

According to the Personal Data Protection Commission’s case file, Sharon Assya Qadriyah Tang is the first individual to be fined under this act for selling personal data without consent.

COMPANIES MUST HEED LEGAL REGULATIONS ON DATA PROTECTION

Tech Wire Asia | 18 April, 2017

The case file revealed that Tang served as a telemarketing executive between 2012 and 2014 and bought leads consisting of an individual’s name, National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) number, mobile number and annual income range. She paid about SGD0.20 to 0.30 for each lead – and came to be in possession of 30,990 leads by the end of 2014.

Between 2012 and February 2017,  Tang re-sold the leads about nine to 10 times via different websites on the Internet. The Commission found she had charged anywhere between SGD0.05 to 0.20 per lead and had earned a profit of about SG$5,000 from the activity.

While conducting the sales transactions, Tang concealed her true identity by using an alias and a corresponding email address, her husband’s bank account number, and a mobile phone number registered under her friend’s name.

MAJORITY OF CONSUMERS WOULD STOP DOING BUSINESS WITH COMPANIES FOLLOWING DATA BREACH

Tech Wire Asia | 30 November, 2017

The Commission noted that the data bought and sold by Tang was defined as personal data under the PDPA, and found her in breach of the Act since the transactions were not carried out by her in a personal or domestic capacity.

Authorities decided to levy a fine of SG$6,000 since they believed Tang did not transact on a large-scale and only sold the leads to supplement her income.

However, the commissioner has emphasized that the low fine charged is an “exception and should not be taken as setting any precedent for the extension of the same leniency or indulgences in other cases”.

MASSIVE MALAYSIAN TELCO DATA BREACH MIGHT BE AN INSIDE JOB

A. Azim Idris | 29 November, 2017

This is a case that should be taken seriously by new entrepreneurs and small business owners, some of whom are known to resort to such tactics, obtaining leads in the black market or on the Internet, and using them for business. When buying leads, they must not only make sure that the consent of each individual has been obtained before adding their details to the database but also that the seller is authorised to sell these details.

The post Asia gets serious about enforcing data protection laws appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Researchers from the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong said that they are able to make consumer behavior predictions that are 60 percent more accurate than any other similar tools.

ENHANCE YOUR INSTAGRAM REACH THROUGH AI-POWERED PERFORMANCE PREDICTION

Holly Patrick | 6 November, 2017

The technology is already being implemented in food and lifestyle apps, and has the potential to make predictive recommendations based off health and consumer patterns in the future, researchers told South China Morning Post. The technology does it through harnessing the powers of “big data” to suss out basic patterns through image recognition technology from the huge volumes of pictures uploaded into the Internet every day.

Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam announced the launch of a big data analytics platform as part of her first speech in her role, key to the SAR’s ambition of becoming a smart city.

Hong Kong’s chief executive Carrie Lam (right) focused on big data analytics as part of her agenda. Source: Reuters

The researchers at the university’s Social Media Lab based their technology off 11 million photos that had been shared by 150 countries on social media sites. The machine learning software by the researchers don’t rely on object identification but rather “social signals”, which are defined as any visual features that might distinguish any specific information about the user. This could be certain types of food, clothes, or sports, anything that could identify someone by their age and demographic.

Lead researcher of the Social Media Lab, Cheung Pak-ming, said that the software now has an 80 percent accuracy rating for gender predictions solely based off of publicly available photos.

ADVERTISERS ARE USING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO GET BETTER AND BETTER

Tech Wire Asia | 26 October, 2017

“Generally speaking, we would be able to make an accurate prediction if we can gather 100 photos from a specific user,” he said to South China Morning Post, adding that the lab was currently working to provide services to two lifestyle partner firms and an outdoor advertising agency.

“For example, apps can use our technology to provide restaurant suggestions to users … our tool has boosted the response rate of these suggestions by 60 per cent.”

Social media photos could help this research team make more accurate consumer behavior predictions. Source: Shutterstock

Headlines have been rife with news about potential breaches of privacy by social media platforms, and concerns about privacy are at the forefront of conversations around tech. The university’s technology is sure to raise some eyebrows from corners of society who are still undecided about how to define “public domain” when it comes to social media postings.

WHO IS ULTIMATELY RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR DIGITAL PRIVACY AND SECURITY?

Tech Wire Asia | 8 July, 2016

On their part, the researchers have brushed away concerns about privacy because of how the data was collected. According to their logic, since these photos and social media postings are published on platforms like Facebook and Twitter, they are considered to be in the public domain and free to use.

“It all depends how the apps gather data from users. If you did not authorise the apps to access your private photos, then they would not be gathered and added to the database,” said James She, director of the Social Media Lab to South China Morning Post. 

The technology is currently in the process of being patented.

The post This technology uses your social media photos to predict your behavior appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

The rollout means Skype will have access to every conversation you have in the communication app. This allows Cortana to detect when you are speaking about scheduling plans or looking for information – enabling smart conversations between participants and Cortana.

With this information, Cortana will offer to automatically schedule the event you are discussing, or provide you with information without having to leave the conversation or swap apps.

Competing with Facebook Messenger’s ‘M’ assistant and Allo with Google Assistant, Skype’s Cortana can suggest information based on the user’s chats with contacts.

Information such as movie reviews and restaurant recommendations will appear as suggested pages you can view immediately or send to the other participants in the chat.

SEE ALSO: Microsoft brings Cortana to China and India on Windows Phone

In addition to Cortana acting as your personal assistant, the AI system will also be stored as a permanent contact. This enables you to have conversations with Cortana and get quick answers to queries such as: “How fast is artificial intelligence predicted to advance in the future?”

This feature is only available in the United States for now and is not yet enabled on voice or video conversations.

We’re bringing Cortana into Skype to help you with your everyday tasks and save you time. Learn more: https://t.co/qvmN7anp7X pic.twitter.com/vM71PytOCi

— Skype (@Skype) October 9, 2017

Lack of privacy

The lack of privacy in Skype’s new Cortana feature is worrying for some users.

But one thing to remember is that Skype conversations are not end-to-to encrypted, meaning Microsoft already has access to all your Skype conversations in plain text.

The new feature is designed to assist you and take the difficulty out of organising events.

“We’re committed to making your Skype experience even better. With Cortana, we’ve added a powerful, intelligent assistant to help you with your everyday tasks right where you are and save you time,” Microsoft said in this post.

In future, Microsoft envisages Cortana being everywhere: the walls, floors, speakers, across the globe and in all android and iOS devices, operating like an AI fairy Godmother to answer all your information-related enquiries.

The post Microsoft introduces Cortana to Skype for ‘smart conversations’ appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Facebook, its Instagram unit and rival Twitter Inc. came under fire last year from privacy advocates after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a report police were using location data and other user information to spy on protesters in places such as Ferguson, Missouri.

In response to the report, the companies shut off the data access of Geofeedia, a Chicago-based data vendor which said it works with organizations to “leverage social media,” but Facebook policy had not explicitly barred such use of data in the future.

“Our goal is to make our policy explicit,” Facebook’s deputy chief privacy officer Rob Sherman said in a post on the social network on Monday. He was not immediately available for an interview.

The change would help build “a community where people can feel safe making their voices heard,” Sherman said.

SEE ALSO: WhatsApp cycles back on privacy policy, will share certain data with Facebook

Racially charged protests broke out in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson in the aftermath of the August 2014 shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by a white policeman.

In a 2015 email message, a Geofeedia employee touted its “great success” covering the protests, according to the ACLU report based on government records.

Geofeedia representatives could not immediately be reached for comment on Monday. The company has worked with more than 500 law enforcement agencies, the ACLU said.

Geofeedia chief executive officer Phil Harris said in October the company was committed to privacy and would work to build on civil rights protections.

Major social media platforms including Twitter and Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube have taken action or implemented policies similar to Facebook’s, said Nicole Ozer, technology and civil liberties policy director at the ACLU of Northern California.

We’re fighting a warrant ordering Facebook to give police data on peaceful protesters’ FB group page https://t.co/tbJtiE6Xdv #freespeech

— ACLU (@ACLU) March 9, 2017

Ozer praised the companies’ action but said they should have stopped such use of data earlier.

“It shouldn’t take a public records request from the ACLU for these companies to know what their developers are doing,” she said.

It was also unclear how the companies would enforce their policies, said Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice, a nonprofit that opposes government use of social media for surveillance.

Inside corporations, “is the will there, without constant activist pressure, to enforce these rules?” Cyril said. – Reuters 

The post Facebook closes data backdoor previously exploited by cops for surveillance appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Authoritarianism, gamified. https://t.co/V7JARJwU7t ht @VitalikButerin @FrankPasquale

— Steve Randy Waldman (@interfluidity) October 4, 2015

How it works, according to the article, is everyone will be held up to a score that’s linked to their national identity card of between 350 and 950, which measures a person’s ability to pay (like a typical credit score) and also how politically compliant they are.

The system, which has been in the works for years, will track social network activity and the digital networks that citizens are a part of. Things that could hurt a score include posting unwarranted political opinions or information that the government deems as unsavory, such as the Tiananmen Square massacre.

As it’s already widespread knowledge that Chinese citizens are being tracked and censored via social media, why should this news come as such a surprise? Jay Stanley, the author of the ACLU piece, notes that what makes the system truly “nightmarish” is that a person’s social ties can also be used against them in this citizen score system.

SEE ALSO: Who is ultimately responsible for your digital privacy and security?

For example, a friend who is particularly outspoken on social media, can also hurt your score. As scores can be checked freely online, people will be able to discover which friends are making a negative impact on their score.

The citizen score system, which seems like a game at this point, rewards high scores with benefits – such as making a Singapore travel permit more accessible which can be unlocked a score of 700.

On the flipside, as reported by Tech in Asia, citizens with low scores are actually being barred from booking travel out of China. While 4.9 million people were unable to book a flight, 1.65 million people were unable to take trains. As TiA pointed out, the comparisons drawn between China’s credit system and the first episode of popular satirical TV series Black Mirror, a show about the dark consequences of our addiction to technology, are uncanny.

The International Business Times notes that while the practice of using “financial, Internet and other data to evaluate individuals” is not new, China might be the first country to do it “publicly” and have the system plugged into a “numerical index.”

The system is already being rolled out, with the government hoping that every person in China will be assigned a credit code by 2020.

The post How does China’s new and terrifying credit score system work? appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

But in a move that has been widely criticized by privacy campaigners, WhatsApp appears to have backtracked a little on its policy. In a blog post yesterday, the company announced that they will be “coordinating more with Facebook” by sharing users’ phone numbers.

In its first policy review in four years, WhatsApp wrote that it will be allowing Facebook access to its users in order to allow the social media giant to “offer better friend suggestions and show you more relevant ads”.

SEE ALSO: Critics dismissed the potential of the SMS too soon, says Telefonica’s James Lasbrey

According to the BBC, this means that Facebook will be able to identify people who have exchanged phone numbers but not yet added one another on the platform as friends, and make suggestions.

WhatsApp, however, has reassured users that the contents of messages will remain encrypted and unreadable by anyone except the users themselves. “Even as we coordinate more with Facebook in the months ahead, your encrypted messages stay private and no one else can read them – not WhatsApp, not Facebook, nor anyone else.”

Why the surprise on Whatsapp passing user info to Facebook? Did you expect Fb to play benign host to our social party after paying $19bn?

— Ashok Lalla (@ashoklalla) August 26, 2016

The company also promised not to share users’ WhatsApp phone numbers with others, including Facebook and advertisers.

Users can opt out of sharing this data with Facebook, but it is tricky and you might miss your chance before you even realized it was there.

Once WhatsApp reviews and updates its policy, users will be prompted to accept the terms and conditions. Instead of tapping ‘Agree’ (like most of us normally would), tap ‘Read’ to see the full text.

Right at the bottom of the text, there will be a check box that allows users to opt out of the data sharing.

Today Facebook has bought Whatsapp for $19 billion dollars. Thanks for all the fish. pic.twitter.com/6Ka6jf9DrM

— Gabbbar (@GabbbarSingh) August 26, 2016

The company may face legal challenges for the change. The Electronic Privacy and Information Center (EPIC), a privacy campaigning group based in Washington, told the New York Times that it will file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding the issue.

Marc Rotenberg, president of EPIC, was quoted saying: “Many users signed up for WhatsApp and not Facebook, precisely because WhatsApp offered, at the time, better privacy practices.”

He warned that if the FTC fails to bring any enforcement action, there will be no guarantee that users’ data will be protected.

The post WhatsApp cycles back on privacy policy, will share certain data with Facebook appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.

Launched on July 6, Pokémon GO leverages on smartphone cameras and location-sensing capabilities to deliver an immersive experience that lets players “catch” on-screen Pokémon in real-world locations across the globe.

The immersive gameplay has led to millions downloading it in the first few days of launch, boosting it to the top of the Apple and Google’s app stores on day one, even with limited release.

>Wakes up at 4:30am by accident

>Sees a Mysterious Undiscovered Ping

>Sneaks out#PokemonGO #WorthIt pic.twitter.com/J9mIAcUUHf

— Sayn, Angel Knight (@sayn_ae) July 12, 2016

Even as the app is not yet available in all countries, it has already surpassed Tinder in terms of daily active usage, and it is set to overtake Twitter soon. User engagement has been unprecedented, with Internet analysts at Similarweb estimating that 60 percent those who downloaded the app actively play everyday. Also, each player averages at 43 minutes and 23 seconds of daily use – higher than Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat and WhatsApp.

Where did my privacy go?

With all this popularity though, security analysts warn of potential risks users might be subject to. Gary Miliefsky, CEO of cybersecurity firm SnoopWall, tells The Daily Beast that users might be at risk of data breaches, should malicious hackers successfully break into the game’s player database.

This is because the Pokémon GO app takes a lot of liberties with smartphone permissions. On Android devices, the app asks to access the device’s camera, contacts, GPS location, and SD card contents. It also requires active data or WiFi connection for gameplay.

In addition, game developer Niantic’s privacy policy also authorizes the company to share information with third-party service providers, law enforcement or any party who may obtain the data through acquisition or sale. Plus, the company explicitly states that data may be stored and processed in servers outside of one’s home jurisdiction.

https://twitter.com/laynebracy/status/752787475307769856

Although the use of data sharing among social apps is common, the cited security experts expressed concerns about the lack of disclosure during registration.

“It is becoming abundantly clear that the permissions screen, which evolved to provide users a screenshot of information that apps can access, no longer provides adequate notice on how that information is collected and used,” said Drew Mitnick, policy counsel for the digital rights organization Access Now.

Another thing players might want to consider is the connection that Niantic has with Google. The game developer started out as an internal startup, but spun off as an independent entity when Google reorganized under its new umbrella holdings company, Alphabet.

However, the Pokémon GO app itself was developed with millions of dollars in funding from Google, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company. Such institutional interest might mean that Google will also have access to user data – a possibility that doesn’t stand well with privacy advocates, given the perception that Google takes a lukewarm stance on the issue of user privacy.

A parent’s nightmare

Niantic’s stand on privacy notwithstanding, the more palpable concern is how unscrupulous individuals are taking advantage of location features in Pokémon GO to perpetrate crimes. For instance, armed robbers have used the game’s information to anticipate where potential victims might go.

https://twitter.com/matt23mayer/status/752576447441620997

The app encourages players to visit Pokéstops – virtual sites designated in public (or sometimes private) locations – and robbers have victimized at least eight people at such a location in Missouri in the past couple of days.

Players might also be at risk of abduction, especially when people get sucked into the game and forget about their surroundings. A 19-year old Massachusetts woman was reportedly nearly abducted while playing it. The game’s Lure Module – which attracts nearby monsters to a Pokéstop or other location – might be used by potential abductors to likewise lure children or other gamers.

A personal responsibility

Of course, it can be argued that your safety is your personal responsibility, especially when it comes to playing online games – something that is often considered a non-essential smartphone activity. As for data, Niantic’s privacy policy says parents can request the company to delete their children’s information, along with opting out of the game itself.

When in doubt, you can always opt out. But for many gamers, a game as immersive and interactive  as Pokémon GO might just be too enjoyable to pass up.

The post Prepare for trouble, make it double: Pokémon GO might be a security and privacy risk appeared first on Tech Wire Asia.