Many popular airline, hotel, and retail apps record your iphone screens without your knowledge or consent according to an investigation carried out by techcrunch.
This is also called as session replay, firms basically hire third party analytics such as glassbox to embed this piece of technology in the mobile application.
The software by glassbox records micro actions, taking screenshots along the way. Applications like Air Canada takes screenshots of sensitive information like passport, credit card number, and other personal information.
None of the applications which employed the Glassbox software disclosed this bit of information in their privacy policy or user document. The applications that were scrutinized were Air Canada, Abercrombie & Fitch and its Hollister subsidiary, Expedia, Hotels.com, and Singapore Airlines and many others.
What’s even more worrying is that companies like Air Canada is not encrypting and storing this session replay data in their servers, making them vulnerable to attacks. Last year Air Canada reported that a data breach made public passport numbers and profile data of over 20,000 users.
This search puts questions on many such IOS, and android applications. Leaving of recorded information easy accessible to hackers or malicious third party. This justifies the need for tougher privacy and data protection laws.