Tech

Blablacar, RTL, Akinator: these 100 applications that send your personal data to Russia

In a recent survey, the Financial Times reveals that more than 50,000 apps send their users’ personal data to Russia. To do this, they go through an AppMetrica, a development kit distributed by Yandex, a company close to the Kremlin. A hundred French applications are in the batch, of which here is the complete list.

spy smartphone
Credits: Unsplash

Today, it is now accepted among smartphone users and other Internet users that in order to use a service, it is most often necessary to agree to entrust personal data. This is far from being to everyone’s liking, particularly the European Commission, but that is how it is. Already subject to debate, this observation is all the more problematic when the data entrusted are a country at warnotably known for its illicit activities on the web.

According to a survey by the Financial Times, these are close to 50,000 apps which, through AppMetrica, would send their users’ personal data to Russia. AppMetrica is a development kit marketed by Yandex, a search engine competitor to Google in Russia, notoriously close to the Kremlin. The company also acknowledges that its SDK collects several data, such as the type of device, the network or the IP address.

Here is the list of 100 applications that send your personal data to Russia

A practice that raises many questions, precisely because of these supposedly tenuous ties between Yandex and the Russian government. Last month, Lev Gershenzon, a former executive of the company, notably published a long text on Facebook alerting public opinion to the dark actions of the latter. In particular, he accuses the search engine of delete results related to the war against Ukraine.

Related: Chinese Hackers Take Advantage of War in Ukraine to Recover Sensitive Data

Thanks to our colleagues from Numerama, we now have a list of French applications that also use AppMetrica. If the vast majority of them are games, there are also other big names in the start-up nation. Thereby, Blablacar made an appearance on the list, although the firm defended itself by saying that it only uses AppMetrica in Russia. Another surprise, the application RTL is also present, as well as the translation service Reverso.

But, as explained above, it’s the games that dominate the list. In total, they constitute more than 40% French applications using AppMetrica. Many of them are developed by Easy Brain, a company that boasts of having reached the has, or even Voodo and Saygame. Most often, these are extremely popular games such as sudoku or puzzles. Here is the complete list of affected applications.

  • Adidas
  • Akinator (App Store)
  • Akinator (Google Play)
  • Art Of War 3: RTS Strategy Game
  • Ball Blast
  • Beat Maker Go – Make Music
  • BlaBlaCar: Carpooling and Bus
  • Blend It 3D
  • Block Craft 3D: Building Games
  • Blockudoku: Block Puzzle Game
  • Brain Wash — Puzzle Mind Game
  • bubble shooter
  • Cannon Shot!
  • Color by Numbers for Adults
  • Color Road!
  • Crazy Kick!
  • Cube Surfer!
  • Cut the Rope
  • Differences – Find & Spot them
  • Dig This!
  • DManager Browser & Documents
  • Draw Climber
  • Draw Joust!
  • Drum Pad Machine — Beat Maker
  • Drum Pads 24 Beat Maker Music
  • Easy Game – Brain Test
  • Facelab – Face Editor, Beauty
  • flip dunk
  • From Zero to Hero: Cityman
  • Groovepad – Music & Beat Maker
  • Guitar – Chords, Tabs & Games
  • Helix Jump
  • Hello Piano: Learn Pro Lessons
  • Hoop Stars
  • Hornet – Queer Social Network
  • Idle Building 3D
  • iScanner – PDF Scanner App
  • Jigsaw Puzzles – Puzzle Games
  • Jigsaw Puzzles for Adults HD
  • Johnny Trigger
  • Johnny Trigger: Sniper
  • Jurassic Monster World 3D FPS
  • Killer Sudoku by Sudoku.com
  • Kiss Kiss: Spin the Bottle
  • Learn Guitar | Guitar coach
  • Mahjong Treasure Quest
  • MuseScore: sheet music
  • My Candy Love – Episode
  • My Success Story business game
  • Nonogram.com – Number puzzle
  • Nonogram.com Color: Logic Game
  • Numberzilla: Number Match Game
  • Paint by Number Coloring Games
  • Photo Collage — Collageable
  • Piano — Lessons & Tiles Games
  • Pixel Art: Paint by Number
  • PREQUEL: Aesthetic Pic Editor
  • PURE Hookup: Anonymous Dating
  • Pure Sudoku: The Logic Game
  • Raft Survival – Ocean Nomad
  • Reverso translate and learn
  • Sand Balls – Digger Puzzle
  • Scribble Rider
  • Seekers Notes: Hidden Objects
  • Smart Cleaner – Clean Storage
  • Solitaire — Classic Card Games
  • Spiral Roll
  • Stack Ball 3D
  • Stack Colors!
  • Sudoku — Brain Puzzle Games
  • Sudoku.com
  • The Cook – 3D Cooking Game
  • Tractor Game for Build a House
  • Translate.me Voice Translator
  • Turbo Stars – Epic Racing
  • Ultimate Guitar: Chords & Tabs
  • Ultimate Guitar: Chords & Tabs
  • UNICORN: Color by Number Games
  • Unlimited Music Player Now

Source : FinancialTimes

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