Security?

[EyeCEwe]

General question:

How can Arlo (Netgear) tell me they're so concerned about my privacy when the apps (Android) allows "tracking" cookies. I use a privacy blocking app, that reveals that these products allow OVER 100 attempts every day!  (Arlo Secure, Nighthawk, Insight)

Google tracks 36 data points (email, GPS location, city, country, name, Local IP address, GENDER).

Urban Airship tracks 18 data points (email, GPS location, city)

Why not start with not subscribing to these vendor breaches of privacy, then I might respect your statements...

[StephenB]

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@EyeCEwe wrote:

Arlo (Netgear)

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Netgear no longer has any connection to Arlo.  They divested the company back in 2018, and did not retain any Arlo stock.

Mobile apps cannot share cookie information with other apps or with the device's web browser.  So the privacy concerns are somewhat different than they are with web browsers.  Arlo Secure does need to know location, I haven't tried to figure out what else it tracks.

[EyeCEwe]

My apologies, I thought it was the other way around (they bought them/branded separately). I guess I missed the main point. I am adjusting my question to be fair:

How can Arlo tell me they're so concerned about my privacy when the apps (Android) allows "tracking" cookies. I use a privacy blocking app, that reveals that these products allow OVER 100 attempts every day!  (Arlo Secure)

Google tracks 36 data points (email, GPS location, city, country, name, Local IP address, GENDER).

Why not start with not subscribing to these vendor breaches of privacy, then I might respect your statements...

[StephenB]

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@EyeCEwe wrote:

How can Arlo tell me they're so concerned about my privacy when the apps (Android) allows "tracking" cookies. I use a privacy blocking app, that reveals that these products allow OVER 100 attempts every day!  (Arlo Secure)

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Again, cookies have different properties in an app then they do in a browser.  They cannot be shared with other apps, and they also cannot be shared with web browsers.  They are just a way for apps to remember information.  Of course the app can share that information with Arlo, but Arlo already has most of it it in your Arlo profile.  The main exceptions are current phone location (needed for geofencing) and gender (which is surprising).

Note the email address is the Arlo username, so that is part of the login info.  

No idea why the app would care about gender, so that one is surprising.  But the app definitely does need to know the other stuff in your list.   And cookies are the normal method apps use to remember that info.  Since they aren't shared (limited to the specific app), the privacy concerns are not as broad as cookies used by a browser. 

Can you give more info on what you are seeing regarding gender?  AFAIK my phone has no idea of my gender, and it is not part of my Arlo profile. 

[EyeCEwe]

Here, this will explain better than I could: https://duckduckgo.com/&kad=gd_GB

It's not in beta, but apparently they haven't updated their sight..

https://spreadprivacy.com/app-tracking-protection-open-beta/

[StephenB]

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@EyeCEwe wrote:

Here, this will explain better than I could: https://duckduckgo.com/&kad=gd_GB

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Ok, you are talking about app tracking.

I use an iPhone, not Android.  Apple shows what apps are wanting to do app tracking in their privacy settings, and gives you the option to disable for specific apps.  Arlo Secure is not listed in the app tracking section on my phone, so the iOS app isn't doing it.

No idea why duckduckgo is showing you that google is tracking - it would be useful for Arlo (perhaps @JamesC ) to follow up.