In the spring of this year, an issue related to iOS forced the Apple company to release an update for its operating system, an update that solves a problem with logging the locations visited by users. For the international media, this problem of location logging proved to be extremely important and Apple was subjected to a constant stream of attacks until finally it released an update for iOS that solves the problems. Well, the Locationgate case, as it was called then, pales in comparison problems that HTC has them with its own Android terminals.
It seems that HTC Evo, Evo 3D, Thunderbolt and others like them have installed in the operating system a logger that collects information about everything that users do. Of course, it is not normal for HTC to do this, but the company does it and the problem is that it does not restrict access to the service that can use it. Practically any application for Android that requires access to the Internet can collect data from the phone about: location, sms (phone numbers, messages), contact book, call list, list of email accounts set on terminals, logs on system activity of operation plus many many others.
The problem for HTC is huge because normal applications from the Android Market can steal user data without the slightest problem and here we are exposed to a great vulnerability of the Android operating system. By offering manufacturers the freedom to modify the Android system at will, Google is practically destroying its platform because the implementations of these manufacturers lead to the appearance of very dangerous vulnerabilities and sometimes complicate the functionality of the operating system itself.
Although for HTC there will not be as much fuss as in the case of Apple because we are talking about a company whose importance is not significant, these problems should be an alarm signal for the owners of Android terminals.
