A report by the council, 'Out of Control: How consumers are exploited by the online advertising industry' [PDF], found that the apps were not just gathering highly sensitive data, but passing it on to many advertising and marketing companies without full user knowledge and consent in what could be violations of European data protection law.
Finn Myrstad, director of digital policy for the Norwegian Consumer Council, told Reuters: “These practices are out of control and in breach of European data protection legislation. It is impossible for users to control this because the terms and conditions are really long and impossible to understand.”
The popular apps investigated for the report are: period-tracking apps Clue and My Days; dating apps Grindr, Happn, OkCupid, and Tinder; prayer aid Muslim-Qibla Finder; free children’s mobile game My Talking Tom 2; makeover app Perfect365; and keyboard app Wave Keyboard. Most of the apps transmit data to unexpected...