Google's Messages and Dialer Apps Have Been Collecting and Sending Data to Google

stretch611 writes:

From The Register:

According to a research paper, "What Data Do The Google Dialer and Messages Apps On Android Send to Google?" [PDF] Google Messages (for text messaging) and Google Dialer (for phone calls) have been sending data about user communications to the Google Play Services Clearcut logger service and to Google's Firebase Analytics service.

"The data sent by Google Messages includes a hash of the message text, allowing linking of sender and receiver in a message exchange," the paper says. "The data sent by Google Dialer includes the call time and duration, again allowing linking of the two handsets engaged in a phone call. Phone numbers are also sent to Google."

The timing and duration of other user interactions with these apps has also been transmitted to Google. And Google offers no way to opt-out of this data collection.

Google Messages (com.google.android.apps.messaging) is installed on over a billion Android handsets. It's offered by AT&T and T-Mobile on Android phones in the US and comes preloaded on recent handsets from Huawei, Samsung, and Xiaomi. Similarly, Google Dialer (also known as Phone by Google, com.google.android.dialer) has the same reach.

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