An app downloaded in the US isn't necessarily the same as an app downloaded elsewhere.
“While our study corroborates reports of takedowns due to government requests, we also found many differences introduced by app developers,” notes co-author Renuka Kumar in a summary for
. “We found instances of apps with settings and disclosures that expose users to higher or lower security and privacy risks depending on the country in which they’re downloaded.”Kumar and colleagues poured over data from globally popular apps across the top 22 app categories in the Google Play Store, and found a staggering amount of geoblocking—aka online restrictions based on geographic location.
Apart from simple availability, the team found a wide spectrum of differences within the apps’ security and data privacy regulations. 127 apps varied depending on location in what they were allowed to access on users’ phones , “49 of which had additional permissions deemed ‘dangerous’ by Google.” Canada is listed as one of the countries requesting the most additional permissions, alongside Bahrain and Tunisia.
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