Communications of the ACM
Android Sends 20x More Data to Google Than iOS Sends to Apple, Study Says
A researcher has provided a side-by-side comparison that suggests that, while both iOS and Android collect handset data around the clock, the Google mobile OS collects about 20 times as much data as its Apple competitor.
Credit: djangostars.com
Douglas Leith at Ireland's Trinity College suggests the Android operating system (OS) transmits about 20 times more information from smartphone handsets to Google than iOS sends to Apple, even when the devices appear idle, are just opened, or users have opted out.
At startup, Android devices transmit about 1 MB of data versus iOS's 42 KB; idle, Android transmits approximately 1 MB every 12 hours, compared to iOS's roughly 52 KB.
Both OSes also send data to their parent companies when users perform tasks like inserting a subscriber identification module card or browsing the handset settings screen.
Even when not in use, each device links to its back-end server on average every 4.5 minutes.
Leith also found pre-installed applications or services made network connections even when the handset is unopened or unused, and said these findings are worrisome, because "currently there are few, if any, realistic options for preventing this data sharing."
From Ars Technica
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