Last week, the Taiwanese phone manufacturer HTC was charged with collecting personal and location data from a variety of its products. This is similar to the way the iPhone 4 was said to create privacy issues earlier during the year.
According to XDA, the Gingerbread 2.3.4 update for smartphones such as the HTC EVO 3D and HTC Sensation includes “User Behavior Logging”. This takes note of every action made on the smartphone, which is then sent to the Amazon cloud storing service.
Responding to these claims, HTC said the data collected was geared to report on errors rather than collecting personal and location data.
Addressing XDA, HTC said, “HTC, like most manufacturers, has an opt-in error reporting function built in to our devices.
“If your phone experiences an error, you have the option of “Telling HTC” so we can make improvements to our phones.
“Details about this are in our privacy policy on each device and in order for data to be collected, you have to opt-in. If you do opt-in, we protect your privacy by de-identifying and encrypting the data.
“HTC is committed to protecting your privacy and that means a commitment to clear opt-in/opt-out as the standard for collecting any information we need to serve you better.”
And there you go. They were collecting errors and not personal data. However, if you’re still worried about HTC violating your privacy, you can always disable the function on your phone’s settings.
Do you feel HTC is violating your privacy, or do you think the Taiwanese phone giant is trying to make your mobile experience even better? Let us know what you feel.
