Pandora's mobile app. can transmit your personal data to private companies.

A free smartphone app provided by internet radio service Pandora supplies advertisers with enough user information for them to compile detailed snapshots of those who use it, researchers who analyzed the software have said.

Tuesday's report, titled Mobile Apps Invading Your Privacy and issued by software analysis firm Veracode, found that Pandora's app tracked users' age, sex, zip code and precise geographic location, which in many cases was updated in a continuous loop. The app then sent such information to servers operated by advertising services including AdMarvel and AdMob. Other information that was shared included the phone's device ID and the user's birth date.

The report follows Monday's revelation that federal prosecutors are investigating whether smartphone apps have been illegally collecting information about handset users without proper disclosures. Pandora has said it received a subpoena in the matter and believes other app providers have, as well.

If Veracode's findings are correct, they could provide plenty of fodder to investigators.

“It means your personal information is being transmitted to advertising agencies in mass quantities,” Veracode's Tyler Shields wrote.


Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/04/06/pandora_smartphone_privacy/