No one escapes: Each platform that is rooted in its own overnight popularity, for whatever reason, keeps it central to the storm and its privacy policies are closely scrutinized for the purpose of detecting any type of infringing or illegal process. The last to deal with this persecution has been The creators of Houseparty, a video calling app during this problem caused by the COVID-19 epidemic.
In recent weeks, the request is now the same company behind the popular game Fortnite: Battle Royale, has gone from being one of the most used and valuable tools by young viewers, to the discipline of several experts in the field of cybersecurity and privacy on the Internet. However, Is Houseparty really an insecure app?
What is the cause of the conflict?
It is enough take a walk on social networks such as Twitter receive hundreds of claims by users claiming a claim some sensitive information is stolen from your device after using Houseparty. Among the details allegedly stolen, there would be passwords for services such as Netflix, email addresses, phone numbers and other sensitive information such as bank authenticity. All this evidence, it was more than enough to light a new wick chain and hoax with Houseparty as an intermediary, in some cases including the National Security Festivals and the Corps.
Of course: today, there is no definitive evidence linking Houseparty to this massive data theft On the other hand, however, it has never been proven.
But there is more. Various media experts such as Gehan Gunasekara, professor of business law at the University of Auckland, say Houseparty "Trojan horse"When accessing user devices, it has access to all the information stored on it.
You basically let this app access your smartphone and your smartphone tells you a lot about you, your movements, your locations, your contacts, how often you interact with people, your contacts, and basically they'll track everything.
Is that really so? If we are guided by the permissions list that Houseparty requests to the user before approving the application we found no differences with respect to other applications It is endlessly popular like Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. So the only difference company behind each platform and what each of them does with the information collected.
Now, looking at Houseparty's privacy policies, it's possible to find specific categories that can lead to more than one raise an eyebrow – or both. As law and privacy expert Suzanne Vergnolle, the terms of use of the app include specific features that may render the platform incompatible with the Data Protection Act. In summary, it is as follows:
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Houseparty claims to own all content and actions that its users share or perform via the platform.
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The House Party declares that the activities performed on its application can be classified as "non-personal data" and the voluntary installation of users is of no value (according to the GDPR, users' activities on the platform are considered personal data).
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The "No Tracking" systems are not captured, so the platform continues to follow the user or use a program like this.
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The House Party is following you by default. It is possible to "unsubscribe" from the crawl when you first use the platform.
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You may request removal of the collected information, but it is not certain that it will be permanently deleted.
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According to Houseparty, "The Internet is not 100% secure" and therefore the company is not responsible for ensuring the security of the information provided.
You also need to pay attention to that Houseparty privacy policies have not been updated since June 2018, just two weeks after the new data protection law came into effect. Not renewed there Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite, Epic Game Store and Gallery Engine Unreal Engine decided find the app the month of June 2019.
The company behind the app defends itself against being sued
What does the company say about these allegations? For alleged alleged violations of certain provisions of the Data Protection Act, the company did not comment on it. Yes, it is, instead, when the allegations arise and hacking, supposedly from hackers of Russian origin who could steal information from thousands, if not millions, of app users. Given this, they confirm that the initial finding points to a smear campaign against the speaker, and as a result they announce it they'll pay someone a million dollars able to show that such a campaign exists.
We are investigating the allegations that a recent rumor of fraud was spread by a paid smear campaign to harm Houseparty. We provide a $ 1,000,000 archive to the first person to provide evidence of such a campaign at [email protected].
– Houseparty (@houseparty) March 31, 2020
Before that, Houseparty once said that their service was safe and never wasted, so that users' data and accounts are safe. They also explain that the app does not collect passwords for other apps at any time, making it suspected of stealing services like Netflix or Spotify using the app.
All Houseparty accounts are secure – the service is secure, never compromised, and does not collect passwords from other sites.
– Houseparty (@houseparty) March 30, 2020
Of course, seeing the recent events surrounding the application, a large part of the Houseparty user community has decided leave the platform for fear of possible data theft caused by the suspect and hacking suffered the platform.
However, apart from the outdated privacy policy that leaves us somewhat concerned with the history that places Epic Games as a guarantee that it does not have the best reputation for maintaining the privacy of its users, there are no indications that serious theft has occurred and right now it doesn't look like it using Houseparty is much safer than using other similar platforms.
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