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'Inflexible' network DES could block funding and drive up health inequalities
By Luke Haynes on the 4 October 2019
Primary care networks (PCNs) could miss out on a huge proportion of their funding because of a lack of flexibility in the network contract DES, GP leaders have warned.
PCN funding (Photo: Altinosmanaj/Getty Images)
Senior GPs say the problem threatens to increase health inequalities by unintentionally punishing well-developed PCNs at the same time as undermining those that struggle to recruit.
Almost half of the £1.8bn available to support PCNs by 2023/24 will be delivered through the additional roles reimbursement scheme, which supports practices to recruit specific staff.
In 2019/20 PCNs can claim 100% reimbursement for employing a social prescriber and 70% funding for a clinical pharmacist.
Staff shortages
But GPs say some PCNs have struggled to recruit to these specific roles due to national staff shortages and increased competition as networks across England seek to fill similar posts. Meanwhile, because funding is only available for additional roles - not existing ones - practices that hired shared staff before the formation of PCNs may also be unable to benefit.
PCN leaders have called on NHS England to increase flexibility within the network DES to allow clinical directors to use funds in alternative ways to ensure they don't miss out on funding and allow more advanced PCNs to continue their development.
In a letter sent to commissioners earlier this month, NHS England deputy director of primary care strategy Robert Kettell suggested that PCNs that failed to use this money to employ additional staff would see their funding removed and offered to others within their CCG making 'swift progress' with their recruitment.
At the time, BMA GP committee chair Dr Richard Vautrey said it was important that funding made available for PCN workforce expansion remained in general practice and was not lost to other NHS budgets.
Speaking to GPonline, a senior LMC official from north-east England said there was 'next to zero chance' that PCNs would be able to meet recruitment targets set by NHSE.
'When you come to a really rural area like the north east, the chance of being able to recruit the required professionals reduces even further because we haven't got a vast number of people in shooting distance compared to more populated areas… there just aren't enough of these professionals.'
The LMC official, who asked not to be named, said it would be unfair if PCNs that struggled to recruit had their funding taken away, warning it would mean 'the rich get richer and the poor get poorer'.
Clinical director of Newham Central One PCN and East London GP Dr Farzana Hussain agreed it was a concern that PCNs struggling to recruit could lose out on funding.
'I'm a bit concerned because we don't find it easy to recruit in Newham for anything. It's a very deprived area with abnormally high house prices, so it's not a great place to attract doctors or pharmacists… people generally move out of Newham.
'By diverting the funding to other networks, surely all we are doing is expanding that health inequality gap, something which PCNs are here to try and solve. I think we do need to be quite careful of that and be quite proactive and push back.'
Meanwhile, the LMC representative added that many PCNs in north-east England were already 'skill-mixed up to the hilt'. This meant clinical directors in those areas did not need to employ some of the staff incentivised through the network DES - and that these 'mature' PCNs risked seeing their development stunted if they were unable to take advantage of funding on offer.
'Over the last 10 years, practices have employed pharmacists, they've employed physios and, in some cases, they've employed a social prescriber, and they're saying that they don't need any more of these people. At the minute, there is no option to use funding in any other way.
'It's fine for a practice that has stuck to an old-fashioned model of GPs and a few nurses. But when you have a PCN with vastly skill-mixed teams, they're going to be losing out on money. We just need the flexibility to employ to other roles or to employ managers…it feels like it's being given with one hand and taken away with another'.
Dr Hussain accepted that the NHS England could only make 'one set of rules and policies', but called for flexibility. 'The innovators are in a difficult place because they can't claim funding if they already have these staff in post, which seems a little bit unfair - I think they are losing out.'
She warned that in areas where funding was not used, NHS England should explore why and consider flexibility.
NHS England was approached for comment.
Networks can revive the GP partnership model, say clinical directors
PCNs that struggle to recruit could see funding diverted elsewhere
Funding for primary care networks explained


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Alumni Spotlight • Business & Economy • Profiles
Chloe Renee Kelley: On Top of the World
by Eric Rangus
Chloe Renee Kelley may not be on the very top of the world, but the view from her 46th floor conference room in Manhattan is still pretty sweet. She is senior vice president for account management with an international investment management firm. She may be hundreds of miles away from Athens, but still remains highly engaged with UGA. (Photo by Peter Frey/UGA)
Chloe Renee Kelley may not be on the very top of the world, but the view from her 46th floor conference room in Manhattan is still pretty sweet.
Kelley BBA '06 has lived in New York City for eight years and serves as senior vice president for account management with the international investment management firm PIMCO. In short, her job is to bring the firm's resources to bear for its clients.
She is a connector. She makes things happen.
"I've always tried to be the person who's very involved in things," Kelley says.
That's true in her work and definitely in her relationship with UGA. She's served her alma mater since the day she graduated—she was the undergraduate student speaker at her commencement in 2006.
Like many young alumni, Kelley bounced around looking for her place and gathering experience. She went from New York to Atlanta to Chicago, then back to New York when she landed at PIMCO. Kelley also married her husband, Aaron, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and a Morehouse grad she met during her undergraduate internship in New York. They earned MBAs together at the University of Chicago and now have two children.
Throughout that time, Kelley kept close ties to the UGA community.
She was an inaugural member of the Terry Young Alumni Board and then a member of Terry's full board, where she leads its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee.
Getting involved with UGA early in one's career is advice that Kelley regularly gives.
"Right when you are leaving school, you love your school and you're excited, but you're also moving on to the next chapter in your life," she says. "If you catch people then, they can stay engaged. If you wait five years until they're really established in their careers, they don't have that same excitement.
"UGA has so many great opportunities for students and young alumni," she says. "You have a vast network of alumni who can be a support system for you. That's what has helped propel me in my career."
For her part, Kelley is always willing to give back.
In the summer of 2021, she was elected to the Foundation Board of Trustees, the 52-member body that oversees the foundation's work. It's one of the highest levels of alumni leadership. Not only has the new role increased her connection to UGA, it's increased her travel too.
She came back to Athens four times in the fall of 2021. Foundation board work made up the bulk of that travel, but she has time for fun. (Kelley is still a Bulldogs season ticket holder and returned to Sanford Stadium for the South Carolina game).
Perhaps her most meaningful 2021 visit was for the dedication of the Jere W. Morehead Honors College on Sept. 30. Kelley considers Morehead, who was director of the Honors Program when she was a Foundation Fellow, a mentor.
"He's just done so much for the university and for the Honors Program, it's just fitting that students now will come to the Jere W. Morehead Honors College," Kelley says. "And they'll get an even better experience than I had. They're a part of a small institution with great academics within this larger university where you have all of these different opportunities for research, for engagement with professors, for football, for everything."
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Robie Lecture, award ceremony set for Feb. 9

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Here's how Trump's crackdown on 'chain migration' will affect migrant families
January 4, 2018 · 4:00 PM EST
By T.J. RaphaelRob Gunther
A small group of demonstrators block traffic to demand action by the federal government on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in downtown San Diego, California, Dec. 4, 2017.
Congressional leaders met Wednesday with White House officials to explore the possibility of a legislative solution that would give lasting legal status to people currently benefiting from DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Both Republicans and Democrats have expressed a desire to bring DACA recipients — typically, undocumented migrants who were brought to the US as children, then grew up here — into the fold. But with a president who rode into office using anti-immigrant rhetoric, it's unclear what kind of concessions might be made.
Trump has repeatedly said that any DACA legislation must be tied to a border wall with Mexico. But in recent months, he's ratcheted up his rhetoric on so-called "chain migration," or family-based immigration.
"Ending chain migration, and also ending the visa lottery, will allow us to have common sense immigration rules, that promote assimilation and wage growth," the president said in a Dec. 16 White House address. "It also promotes, most importantly, safety. It will help Americans both old and new to thrive, flourish and prosper."
Dara Lind, a senior reporter for Vox, says ending family-based immigration could have far-reaching consequences for the US.
"[It's] the way that a little over half of people who come to settle in the US come — because they have a relative who's a US citizen or in some cases a green card holder," she says. "The thing is, a lot of kinds of family-based immigration don't really create chains in the way you think of them."
According to Lind, if a person is granted US citizenship or a green card, they cannot continually bring over family members.
"The most common types are just bringing over your spouse, which you can only bring one spouse over, or bringing over your kids, who don't then have other relatives they can bring because they're kids," she says. "The more chain-like types of migration are like bringing over adult children or siblings, other people who might have families they can bring, and they're pretty limited — they're a lowest priority for immigration."
An example: It can take a decade or longer for a US citizen originally from Mexico to bring over a sibling, Lind says.
"[Chain migration] is a term that, policy-wise, refers to this small slice of family-based immigration but politically has come to mean the whole thing," she adds.
This notion is something that President Trump has continually tried to drive home.
"A single immigrant can begin a chain that can ultimately bring in dozens of increasingly distant relations," the president said last month. "Because these individuals are admitted solely on the basis of family ties, not skill and not merit, most of this immigration is lower skilled, putting great strain on federal welfare."
President Trump's idea of chain migration, Lind says, represents the most extreme hypothetical scenario. In reality, she says most people who rely on family-based immigration only wind up bringing over a few relatives to the United States, adding that individuals who rely on social services like welfare are barred from coming to the country.
Despite the facts, a deep fear of "chain migration" has become a key focal point for those on the right. But how did we get here?
"For a generation, Republicans rhetorically said, 'We love legal immigrants, we just don't like illegal ones or unauthorized ones.' For a lot of conservatives, however, that wasn't really their problem with immigration," she says. "Their problem with immigration was that they didn't want the cultural mix of America to change, they thought that America had a traditional culture and traditional values, and they didn't want people who didn't respect that culture and values to start dominating the American population."
While President Trump wants a merit-based immigration system that favors high-skilled workers, Lind says such systems are not always ideal. She points to Australia and Canada, which have had difficulty getting the long-term benefits of hosting immigrant workers, many of whom are reluctant to put down permanent roots in their communities without their family members.
Though he claimed on the campaign trail that Mexico would pay for it, President Trump is trying to secure funding for his border wall. Lind speculates that the president will give Democrats a DACA deal — if family-based migration is cut and at least some funding for the wall is secured.
"He's asking for a cut in legal immigration to the US going forward by as much 50 percent in exchange for legalization of the 700,000 of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants currently living in the US," she says "That doesn't seem like a super-even deal. The continued insistence on ending chain migration in the White House seems like a signal that they're less interested in getting to a deal on DACA than they are in treating their entire immigration agenda, which is a radical remaking of American immigration policy, as this obviously done deal that Democrats must ultimately fold on."
A version of this story originally appeared on The Takeaway.
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kaholt	in Ike-a-saurus	 September 22, 2009 311 Words
Soup!
a cool, rainy day
brain tries to comprehend it
this requires noodles
So "requires" has two syllables, right? My southern heritage is telling me that it has three. I think my southern heritage is misleading me, so I'm sticking with two. But feel free to argue.
Anyway, hello cool weather! It was so chilly this afternoon that Ike-a-saurus was out on the porch, sitting on his nurse's lap, legs covered with a blanket, hocking loogies on the concrete. Just like an old man.
In my imagination, it could have been a scene from Annie. With Ike playing FDR, his nurse playing the wheechair, and with more loogies than I remember seeing in that movie.
Inspired by Ike's old man-ness, the cool weather, and my husband's hacking swine flu cough, I made some soup. Like actually made it – I chopped up carrots and celery and everything. What the what? I know! It was good, too, with chicken in it, and egg noodles. Also, there were some bones that I didn't manage to fish out, and I burned my finger, but overall it was a surprisingly successful foray into the kitchen.
It's hard to believe fall is here, and yet, it feels like it's been about a thousand years since last fall. In the beginning of October last year, I was going to the NICU everyday, scrubbing my hands and arms raw, and teaching a four-pound Ike-a-saurus to breastfeed.
I take back the thousand year thing. It feels like a MILLION years ago. And a million years before that was the last time I made soup.
It's nice to make soup again. It's nice to feel a cool breeze. It's nice to see lungs strong enough to splatter mucus on the ground.
If Daddy Warbucks was here, I might even burst into song.
Liveblogging the Emmy's!
Dear Swine Flu, You Asshole, Again,
4 thoughts on "Soup!"
Alison Strobel Morrow says:
Actually, I think in the South 'require' would only have 2 syllables–but in the North, definitely 3. So we'll just have to read it with an accent. 🙂
And I'm impressed about the soup! I wouldn't even know where to start if I tried to make soup–I think I'd end up with hot ham water. 😀
I made a black-eyed pea stew-type-thing today! Shelled the peas and everything, while watching Pingu with G. Great minds obviously think alike!
Irene of the North says:
yay for loogies! seriously, there's a video we all need to see.
Debbie T. says:
'Yesterday was plain awful.
You can say that again?
Yesterday was plain awful!
But that's,
not now,
that's then!'
'And if tomorrow,
I'm an apple seller too:
I don't need anything anything anything….
I Don't Need Anything But You!'
Damn, I love me some Annie.


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New Jersey Devils 2014 NHL Draft preview
By John Iadevaia
Photo: Defenseman Steve Santini is one of several strong defensive prospects in the New Jersey Devils system. Santini was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft. (courtesy of Richard T. Gagnon/Getty Images)
Stacked with 12 shootout loses and inconsistent play throughout the year, the New Jersey Devils missed the playoffs for the third time in four years. Once more, scoring was the culprit as the Devils failed to finish off their opponents when they had to in regulation.
One takeaway that general manager Lou Lamoriello was pleased by, was the growth of his young defensive prospects that seem ready to take on more responsibility for next season.
New Jersey received some good news in back in March as the NHL returned their first round pick that was taken away as a penalty due to the Ilya Kovalchuk cap-circumventing contract. The Devils will be locked into the final pick in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft, unable to trade, move up or down from the 30th overall pick.
Top 10 Prospects:
1. Jon Merrill, D
2. Damon Severson, D
3. Eric Gelinas, D
4. Reid Boucher, LW
5. Keith Kinkaid, G
6. Alexander Urbom, D
7. Scott Wedgewood, G
8. Stefan Matteau, C
9. Steve Santini, D
10. Seth Helgeson, D
Team Needs
The dearth of top-tier scoring remains an Achilles heel for the organization. New Jersey was one of the worst offenses yet again partly because of a lack of creativity and finish. This was compounded by their complete failure in the shootout.
Questions and answers about the subject of offense vary, but the need for more goals may put Reid Boucher in a top six role next season. Meanwhile, Jaromir Jagr and Patrick Elias will still be counted on to produce as the sun sets on their careers. Adam Henrique bounced back well following a sophomore slump, but the team will need many of their underperformers to produce next season.
While the attention remains up front, it could not hurt if the team added another defenseman. Starting this fall, every defensive prospect in the system will be playing at the pro level except for Steve Santini, who will be playing in the NCAA. Veterans remain a mainstay within the organization, but it was easy to see that the young defensemen outplayed them on many occasions. Jon Merrill and Eric Gelinas were among the young defensemen who injected life into the blue line unit with their active play.
Cory Schneider will get the lion's share of starts as he settles in as a full-time starter for the first time in his career. With Martin Brodeur likely gone this summer, the Devils will need a backup goaltender to give Schneider some rest. There is a chance they may already have the candidate in their system.
Organizational Strengths
The blue line remains the best unit in the Devils system and improved a fair amount over the 2013-14 season. To name a few, Merrill and Gelinas took on big roles with the NHL club while Seth Helgeson and Reece Scarlett were impressive in their first seasons in Albany. The talented Damon Severson is poised to contend for an NHL job next year following the conclusion to his junior career. Santini remains a few years away but had a promising freshman campaign in the NCAA.
In the goaltending department, Keith Kinkaid had a breakout season with Albany. His confidence and steady play for much of the year may give him the opportunity to serve as Schneider's back-up in 2014-15 and beyond. Whether that happens or not, expect Scott Wedgewood to gain more starts after a strong second half from him. Something seemed to click for Wedgewood in the late winter as he outplayed his partner in the AHL until Kinkaid retook his starting job. Anthony Brodeur will look to build upon his rookie season in the QMJHL.
Organizational Weaknesses
The obvious area of concern is up front where the Devils lack potential top six talent. Other than Boucher and the still unknown Miles Wood, most of the forwards are either defensively oriented or better suited for supporting roles. The right wing is in dire need of fresh bodies. With the pending graduation of Mike Sislo, there are no right wingers in development. When you consider the current NHL roster filled with veterans at that position, this could become an issue sooner than later.
Draft Tendencies
With the return of their first round pick, the Devils will enter Philadelphia with the 30th, 41st, 71st, 131st, 152nd, and 161st selections. New Jersey acquired the Florida Panthers' sixth-round pick along with Scott Timmins on September 28th, 2013 in exchange or Krys Barch and St Louis' seventh-round pick on 2015. Their fourth-round pick was included in the trade with Winnipeg to reacquire Alexei Ponikarovsky. Their seventh-round pick will also go to the Arizona Coyotes as the result of the Steve Sullivan trade.
Adding depth to the forward corps has been management's focus of late. Of the organization's 18 picks since 2011, 12 of them have been used to select a forward. However, most of these forwards, such as Stefan Motteau or Graham Black, are unlikely to provide the type of goal production the team needs.
Lately, New Jersey has sought the USHL for potential talent. In 2011, the Devils took a USHL player in the second, third, and fourth round. However, the majority of these players have come from the United States National Development Team, with Blake Coleman coming from the Indiana Ice. As of now, each one of them is an impact player at their respective level in the farm system.
Hockey's Future Staff Mock Draft Results:
30. Brayden Point, C, Moose Jaw Warriors (WHL)
With a need for more talent up front, Brayden Point would instantly become one of New Jersey's best scoring forwards. There will be a good chance he is available because his size may scare teams away in the first round. Listed at 5'9", 160 pounds, Point has proven he is not intimidated going against bigger players. He led Moose Jaw in 2013-14 with 91 points and in every other offensive category. He makes up for his small stature with his natural skill. He is a spark-plug with a strong work ethic and a motor that does not stop. Point's ability to play in all three zones makes him ideal for the Devils' style. He makes smart passes and has good vision to find teammates. He is more of a playmaker but has an impressive scoring touch.


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Early in my model photography I'd done a joint shoot with a more experienced fellow photographer with a well-known model. I asked him whether he wanted to organise another shoot, he asked which model and I suggested using the same one. I still remember his reply, he said he'd worked with her twice now, and couldn't think of anything else he could do with her as he'd be repeating himself. I went on to work with her more times than I can remember and we produced a body of work I'm very proud of containing a very wide variety of images, and I never once felt that we repeated anything.
One of the photographers I admire greatly, both for his passion and image-making ability, is the talented Richard Egan. He mainly works with one model, the superb Nicole Rayner, but he produces a wide range of superb images with her, of which I would be proud to have taken any. Because they have worked together so much they have to both put in that extra effort to produce something different and better. I like to think I am pretty good at getting locations to shoot at, but sometimes Richard makes me look like a rank amateur in that respect!
Here's two identical images of Lulu next to a window.
Two obviously similar images of Lulu holding on to something.
More boring repetition of Lulu on rocks.
And finally two of the same images of Lulu next to a wall.
So my advice to photographers is to do whatever you enjoy, and ignore the advice of other photographers, including me – unless that becomes a circular argument!
Many thanks to Lulu for still giving me the same buzz on every shoot as I had when we first worked together.
I think your exceptional images prove the point. Establishing a trust and understanding between you clearly reaps rewards and let's be honest Lulu is an absolutely perfect subject to photograph with great awareness of what poses will work so why would you ever not want to shoot with her.
Mr Pope, how can you say I am being sarcastic, I'm telling it as it is ;) A camera is but a tool, money is far better spent on taking photos rather than equipment!


When I was in band back in high school, every year Mrs. Johnson (our band director) got promotional packages from the big music publishing companies. These packages included recordings of bands playing the musical pieces that the publishing company wanted to sell for the following marching season. Mrs. Johnson would leave the recordings out near the band room sound system so that the members in their spare time could listen and give her ideas for what music to choose.
I LOVED those recordings. Most of them were pretty obviously done by professional wind bands in studios, and I developed a bit of an affinity for the style of music that authors usually wrote for marching band. I would often bring in a cassette and record some of the songs just to listen to later.
I miss having access to that. Back in band, our copies of the recordings were always on LP (we didn't have a CD player in the band room), but I imagine that they were distributed on CD as well. I would do a LOT to get my hands on some of those demo CDs. I would especially love to have copies of the recordings of some of the original pieces I heard back then, some of them we played, some we didn't. A few of the favorite titles were "Power Station", "Wings", and a western-themed one we didn't play that I can't remember the title for (but can still hear clearly in my head). In addition, though, I'd love to have access to the new stuff every year just to listen to.
I've looked around a little bit before, but there doesn't seem to be much interest in distributing these recordings just for listening. It's probably because of licensing and such. I wish I could get my hands on them, though. I've found short snippets as sound files on publishers' web sites (usually with annoying beeps in the middle), but never full-length songs.
*chuckle* Sometimes, I think I need to find one of the large local high school bands and start showing up in the stands at football game half-time performances during the fall just to listen. I would probably get labeled as the creepy stranger that no one knows, though.
I've got a Jalen Publishing promotional CD from when I was in the Ole Miss Band. We recorded a song or two that was on there, I think. You're more than welcome to look at it. Can't remember what all is on there.
When I was in marching band, I couldn't afford to purchase the video of our Atlantic Coast Championship entry. Several years ago, I tried contacting TOB to see if they had archived copies, but the company who did the recording had gone out of business! So I really ought to give a call to my old high school and see if the 19..um, 87? video is still kicking around the vaults, bc I too would give a lot to see and hear that again.
Wanna come hear some drums and bugles?
Ooh. That's SO tempting. I've never been to a DCI event, but I used to watch the World Championships on PBS every year. I came this close to being able to go to the World Championships in Jackson, MS in '93. My new college roommate had a connection with tickets. If we hadn't been moving into our dorm room that very day, I would have gone.
I have to say that I don't relish the idea of yet another drive to Atlanta, but that's pretty high on the list of things likely to make me do it. 🙂 I'll think about it.
I'm sure that since I married a band nerd and hang out with band nerds that my son will eventually become a band nerd. I'll let you know when marching season starts.


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All About Bigg Boss 9 Paired Contestants That You Need To Know
Updated on 14 October, 2015 at 12:38 pm By Anum Ansari
With the grand opening of Bigg Boss 9, 2015 all the buzz about the double trouble funda of the show got clear when Salman Khan paired the contestants and they entered the Bigg Boss house as seven pairs and not as individuals. Contestants were given two choices to choose their partners. As always the not-so-famous faces of the industry are here in Bigg Boss house in search of some recognition. Here are the things you should know about the pairs of Bigg Boss 9.
1. Mandana Karimi and Keith Sequeira
Mandana Karimi is an Iranian model and actress who began her career as an air hostess and entered Bollywood with a cameo role in film 'Roy'. Vikram Bhatt found her and gave her a debut film 'Bhaag Johnny'. She will be seen opposite Tusshar Kapoor in the sex comedy 'Kya Kool Hain Hum 3'.
Keith Sequeira is a VJ turned actor from Goa. He started his career with Raymond's 'The Complete Man' campaign. Later he proved everybody wrong by speaking fluent Hindi in the movie 'Sixteen', where he played an author. He is the boyfriend of IPL Extra Innings host Rochelle Maria Rao who is another contestant of Bigg Boss 9. Let's see if their happy days still continue in the Bigg Boss house.
abplive
2. Suyyash Rai and Rimmi Sen
Suyyash Rai is a popular face on the TV screen. He has done many famous daily serials like 'Kya Hua Tera Vaada', 'Kaisa Yeh Ishq Hai… Ajab Sa Risk Hai' and many more. He had the desire to enter the house with his girlfriend Kishwer, but the pattern of the show landed him with Bengal beauty Rimmi Sen.
Though it was claimed by the media that she has no traits to survive in the Bigg Boss house, Rimmi Sen is the most famous face among all the contestants and has worked hard to create a place for herself in the industry. She has done many films with big Bollywood names including Salman Khan and Amitabh Bachchan.
3. Kishwar Merchant and Aman Verma
Kishwar Merchant, the lady love of Suyyash Rai, rose to fame with the show 'Hip Hip Hurray' which aired on Zee TV in 1998. She has been doing many famous daily soaps and has been a common face in Ekta Kapoor's soaps.
Aman Verma is a popular TV actor and anchor who has worked in many TV shows like 'Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', 'Khullja Sim Sim', 'Indian Idol' and currently he is on 'Humne Li Hai Shapath'. Aman's casting couch controversy was a stain on his career. He has taken up Bigg Boss to get out of those shadows.
4. Digangana Suryavanshi and Roopal Tyagi
The infamous Rupal Tyagi got fame through her first daily serial 'Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke' and her relationship with her co-star of the same show Ankit Gera. She entered 'Jhalak Dikhlaja Reloaded' as a wild card entrant.
Digangana Suryavanshi made headlines for her cat-fights with her co-star Farnaz Shetty of the show 'Ek Veer Ki Ardaas Veera'. She is a pampered child of her parents who believes in the princess culture. She said in her interview that she bathes with milk, honey, etc. on her birthdays and believes in living a life like a princess.
5. Ankit Gera and Arvind Vegda
Ankit Gera got fame from his first show 'Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke'. He later got into controversies like double dating and was given the title of a playboy for having three relationships in three years. He is considered to be the Casanova of the show and who is still rejected by the girls.
Gera entered the house with Arving Vegda who is a famous Gujrati singer and is known for his fusion music. He is a favorite at all garba and dandiya festivals.
bollywoodlife
6. Prince Narula and Rochelle Maria Rao
Prince Narula bagged the crown of Mr. Punjab and has a popular stint on 'Roadies X2' where he walked away with the crown and cash prize. Reports say that Prince is furious and short-tempered. That means Prince might be the one who gives all the masala in BB9.
Rochelle Maria Rao is an Indian model and anchor. Three years ago, Rochelle Rao was crowned the Femina Miss India International. She is the girlfriend of another contestant of the show, Keith Sequeira.
7. Vikas Bhalla and Yuvika Chaudhary
Vikas Bhalla is the son-in-law of famous TV personality Prem Chopra. He has done a couple of TV shows and films. He is also known for his great singing. He was last seen in the TV show 'Uttaran'.
Yuvika Chaudhary participated in the 2005 reality show 'Zee Cine Stars Ki Khoj'. She is among the few celebs who started with a reality TV show and then went on to feature in blockbuster movies like 'Om Shanti Om'. She has not been seen anywhere else so far. Her main motive to enter the show is to gain the limelight and gather fame.
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text:
\section{Introduction}
Personal data protection in the mobile applications ecosystem constitutes an important challenge from both technical and legal aspects, since the unprecedented growth in recent years of users carrying smart devices, whereas the corresponding smart applications may become highly intrusive in terms of users privacy.  More than $7.6$ billion mobile connections serving $4.7$ billion unique mobile consumers globally\cite{GSMA}, whilst it is expected that by $2020$ the mobile subscriptions will cover almost the $75\%$ of the global population; regarding the smart phones, about $5.8$ billions are expected to be used by $2020$. At the same time, smart applications may process large amounts of personal data, such as the users' location, friendships, habits and interests -- thus profiling users. This information can be used for commercial purposes, including behavioural advertising, although it may go far beyond this purpose ---e.g. to infer a user's socio-economic class, health status or political beliefs. Such privacy issues are further accentuated by the fact that Internet-of-Things (IoT) solutions (platforms and services) can also be accessed via mobile apps, as well as that the next generation of mobile networks technology will realise part of the IoT's connectivity.
\vspace{-0.3cm}
\subsubsection{Privacy issues of smart mobile applications}
Towards implementing behavioral advertising, (efficient) tracking mechanisms is a prerequisite for the ad networks in order to create accurate profiles of the users. Generally, several tracking mechanisms of different forms exist \cite{Castelluccia,Bujlow}. Probably the most difficult one to be tackled towards protecting users' privacy rests with the generation of a so-called fingerprint of the user ---that is, a unique identifier of a device, operating system, browser version, or other instance that can be read by a web service when the user browses, allowing the tracking of the user when he visits several websites belonging to different entities. Fingerprinting was first defined as {\em browser} fingerprinting in \cite{Eckersley} and has been subsequently generalized to describe any unique instance that a device leaves based on, e.g., a specific software that is installed on the device or the particular device configurations \cite{Kurtz}. The difficulty in dealing with fingerprinting rests with the fact that fingerprints are not based on any client-based storage (such as the case of cookies) and thus sophisticated {\em data protection by design} solutions are needed to alleviate the relevant privacy risks. Especially in the mobile applications ecosystem, behavioral advertising can be upgraded into ubiquitous advertising \cite{Krumm}, that is advertisements will not only be personalised to users' online profiles, but also to their physical profiles ---e.g., advertisements will be customised to users' locations, physical or intellectual activities, etc. \cite{Castelluccia}.

The average smartphone has more than $25$ apps installed \cite{Taylor}, each having its own access rights to the device depending on the permissions that the user grants. The vast majority of the apps utilize third-party libraries ---e.g. to provide integration with social networks or to facilitate the programming procedure via easily embedding complex functionalities. These libraries obtain the same access rights with the host app. However, the use of such libraries may pose some risks for the users' privacy, since they may, e.g. track the users \cite{Stevens,Binns}. Moreover, as it is analysed in \cite{Taylor}, the use of several popular libraries by several different smart apps may result in the so-called {\em intra-library collusion}, that is the case that a single library embedded in several apps on a device may appropriately combine the set of permissions given by each host app so as to leverage the acquired privileges and gather (a possibly large amount of) personal information without the explicit consent of the user. More specifically, as also stated in \cite{Taylor}, the current Android security model, which does not support the separation of privileges between apps and the embedded libraries, facilitates the following relative privacy threats without the user's consent:
\begin{itemize}
\item Libraries may abuse the privileges granted to the host applications.
\item Libraries may track the users.
\item Libraries may aggregate multiple signals for detailed user profiling.
\end{itemize}
Moreover, obtaining a valid user's consent according to corresponding legal provisions, as well as being able to demonstrate its validity, is not trivial in such a challenging environment (see, e.g.,\cite{Jesus}).

More than half of the apps available on Google Play contain ad libraries linked to third party advertisers\cite{Athanasopoulos} and as being studied through analysis of many versions of popular Android apps studied in \cite{Ren}, the question whether privacy issues are being efficiently addressed over time reveal that there is an increased collection of personally identifiable information across app versions, a slow adoption of HTTPS to secure the
information sent to other parties, and a large number of third parties being able to link user activity and locations across apps. Interestingly enough, in \cite{Ikram} it is shown that even in privacy enhancing technologies such as ad blockers we may encounter privacy issues, since the analysis therein indicates that neither ad blockers are free of third-party tracking libraries and permissions to access critical resources on users' mobile devices.
\vspace{-0.3cm}
\subsubsection{Our contribution}
This paper focuses on the privacy issues that occur in applications providing Navigation through GPS component, motivated by the special nature of these apps which necessitate access to the current device's geolocation data. Our approach is based on analysing the user's personal data that such applications process and examining whether this process may pose some (hidden) risks for user's privacy. In this direction, we studied five popular GPS navigation apps on Android devices via performing dynamic analysis in order to id which personal data ---including user's device identifiers--- they process. The dynamic analysis was carried out by using known appropriate software tools that help monitor what mobile applications are doing at runtime. We particularly investigated whether such applications share the personal information they access with third-parties, due to the existence of third-party libraries. Moreover, we examined the Android permissions granted to these applications, with the aim to investigate whether such similar applications require the same permissions or not. In the process, we also examined the privacy policies of these apps, in terms of finding out whether the information provided to the users is satisfactory.

Our analysis shows that there is underlying data processing in place, which could possibly result in data protection risks, especially with respect to data leakage to third parties for tracking users, since the users are not fully aware of all these processes taking place at the background. Moreover, discrepancies occur with respect to the permissions that each application requires; again, since any such  permission actually corresponds to a specific purpose of data processing, the relevant information provided to the users is not always adequate. Hence, this work further reveals the privacy challenges that span the entire mobile applications ecosystem.

It should be pointed out that the aim of the paper is not to make a comparative study between GPS applications, neither to perform a legal evaluation of the relevant personal data processing they perform; our aim is to examine, in a typical scenario of a GPS navigation, which type of personal data processing occurs, so as to subsequently yield useful information on potential data protection concerns that are in place.

The paper is organized as follows. First, a short discussion of the main legal provisions is given in Section \ref{sec:preliminaries}, in conjunction with the presentation of device identifiers that should be considered as personal data.     Section \ref{sec:permissions} provides a short overview on the permission model that Android adopts, focusing on the so-called high-risk permissions in terms of privacy. Section \ref{sec:analysis} constitutes the main part of this work, where the results of our dynamic analysis on the corresponding applications are presented. More precisely, we first describe our testing environment and the methodology that have been utilized for our dynamic analysis, whilst we next present the findings of the analysis, as well as a discussion on them. Finally, conclusion as well as some recommendations, are given in Section \ref{sec:conclusions}.

\section{Preliminaries}
\label{sec:preliminaries}

The European Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (2016) ---known as the {\em General Data Protection Regulation} or GDPR--- that applies from May 25th, 2018, constitutes the main legal instrument for personal data protection in Europe. The GDPR, which has been adopted in 2016 replacing the previous Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC, results in a harmonization of relevant data processing rules across the European Union and aims to further protect and empower all EU citizens data privacy. Although the GDPR is a European Regulation, its territorial scope is not restricted within the European boundaries, since it applies to all organizations that process personal data of individuals residing in the European Union, regardless of the organizations' location, which can be outside European Union.

The term {\em personal data} refers to any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person, that is a person who can be identified; as it is explicitly stated in the GDPR, an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person. {\em Personal data processing} means any operation that is performed on personal data, including the collection, recording, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination, combination and erasure.

The notion of the personal data is quite wide, since special attention needs to be given whenever some data are being characterized as {\em anonymous}, i.e. non--personal. Indeed, according to the GDPR, although the data should be considered as anonymous if the person is no longer identifiable, all the means reasonably likely to be used to identify the natural person directly or indirectly should be taken into account towards determining whether a natural person is identifiable (see also \cite{Chatzistefanou}).

In general, device identifiers should be considered as personal data since they may allow the identification of a user (if possibly combined with other information). The Android operating system, which is the case considered in this work, is associated with two identifiers (see, e.g., \cite{Son}):
\begin{itemize}
\item The Android ID, which is a permanent $64$bit randomly generated number.
\item The Google Advertising ID (GAID), which is a $32$-digit alphanumeric identifier that can be reset at any time, according to the user's request.
\end{itemize}
Other device or network identifiers, such as the \textit{medium access control} (MAC) and the \textit{Internet protocol} (IP) addresses, should also be considered as personal data.

The GDPR codifies the basic principles that need to be guaranteed when personal data are collected or further processed and sets specific obligations to those that process personal data (data controllers/data processors). Any processing of personal data requires a lawful basis. In case that such a lawful basis is the individual's consent, then consent must meet certain requirements in order to be considered as being sufficient; more precisely, consent means any freely given, specific, informed and unambiguous indication of the data subject's agreement to the processing of his or her personal data must be given by a statement or a clear affirmative action (art. 4 of the GDPR). As stated in \cite{ENISA}, since many smart apps will need to rely on users' consent for the processing of certain personal data, the requirement of consent deserves special attention, in particular as it relates to the issue of {\em permissions}. Unfortunately, users have limited understanding of the associated risks of enabling permissions (or access to) in certain apps, whilst app developers have difficulties in comprehending and appropriately handling permissions \cite{ENISA}. Moreover, this permissions model does not facilitate the provision of a legally valid consent for any third-party functionality that might be integrated into the app (since, in the Android platforms, third-party libraries inherit the privileges of the host app); hence, a major data protection risk occurs whenever a third-party library uses personal data for profiling and targeting, without the user's consent.

It should be pointed out that, depending on the techniques used, tracking of a mobile user may fall into the scope of the legal framework of the so-called cookie provision in the ePrivacy Directive (Directive 2002/58/EC); this applies only to the European Union. Again, this cookie provision requires informed consent for such app behaviour. In any case, the new Regulation that is currently being prepared in the EU to replace the ePrivacy Directive (the so-called ePrivacy Regulation), aims at being aligned with the GDPR, also covering new stakeholders and technologies in the field of electronic communications.

The GDPR sets new rules and obligations for each {\em data controller}, i.e. the entity that, alone or jointly with others, determines the purposes and means of the processing of personal data. Amongst them, the so-called {\em data protection by design} and {\em data protection by default} constitute important challenges involving various technological and organisational aspects \cite{Alshammari}. According to the Recital $78$ of the GDPR, appropriate measures that meet in particular the above two principles of data protection by design/default
\begin{quote}\em
($\ldots$) could consist, inter alia, of minimising the processing of personal data, pseudonymising personal data as soon as possible, transparency with regard to the functions and processing of personal data, enabling the data subject to monitor the data processing, enabling the controller to create and improve security features.
\end{quote}
In the same Recital, there is also an explicit reference to the producers of the products, services and applications that are based on the processing of personal data or process personal data; namely, these stakeholders
\begin{quote}\em
($\ldots$) should be encouraged to take into account the right to data protection when developing and designing such products, services and applications and ($\ldots$) to make sure that controllers and processors are able to fulfill their data protection obligations.
\end{quote}
This is the only reference within the GDPR to stakeholders others than the data controllers or data processors (which are the entities that process personal data on behalf of the controller). In the mobile ecosystem, application developers or library providers could lie in this category and thus, even in cases that these actors are neither data controllers nor data processors (hence, they may not be directly regulated under the GDPR), they are encouraged to make sure that controllers and processors are able to fulfill their data protection obligations \cite{ENISA}.

\section{Permissions of applications}
\label{sec:permissions}

One of the Android system's core features is that applications are executed in their own private environment, referred to as a {\em sandbox}, being unable to access resources or perform operations outside of their sandbox that would adversely impact the system's security (e.g.\ by downloading malicious software) or user's privacy (e.g.\ by reading contacts, emails, or any other personal information). An application must explicitly request the permissions needed either at install-time, via its {\tt AndroidManifest.xml} file, or at run-time. Our experimental environment, as it is discussed next, involved Android version 8.0 (API level $26$), as well as Android Lollipop 5.0.1 (API level $21$); therefore, for the first case the permissions granted to the GPS applications were requested at runtime, whilst for the second case they were requested at install-time.

The permissions granted to applications are classified to several protection levels, based on their ability to harm the system or the end-user, out which three levels affect third-party applications \cite{android19}:
\begin{enumerate}
\item {\em Normal permissions}:
these cover areas where the application needs to access data or resources outside its sandbox, but where there's low risk to the user's privacy or the operation of other applications.

\item {\em Signature permissions}:
these are granted only if the application that requests the permission is signed by the same certificate as the application that defines the permission.

\item {\em Dangerous permissions}:
these cover areas where the application wants data or resources that involve the user's private information, or could potentially affect the user's stored data or the operation of other applications.
\end{enumerate}

\section{Dynamic analysis of GPS applications}
\label{sec:analysis}

This section provides the methodology that was followed, along with the results that have been obtained from the dynamic analysis performed on five popular GPS applications of the Android platform.

\subsection{The testing environment}

For our research experiments, we utilized an Android device (Android version Oreo $8$) in which we installed five indicative popular GPS navigation apps which are available through the Google Play Store, namely: [1] the Google Maps (v. 10.12.1), [2] the Sygic GPS Navigation \& Maps (v. 17.7.0), [3] the TomTom GPS Navigation - Traffic Alerts \& Maps (v. 1.17.1), [4] the MAPS.ME (v. 9.0.7) and [5] the MapFactor GPS Navigation Maps (v. 4.0.109).

To be able to analyse these smart apps, via investigating whether they send personal data to third parties, as well as to obtain a direct information on potentially privacy--intrusive processes, we utilized the Lumen Privacy Monitor (Lumen)\footnote{\url{https://www.haystack.mobi/}}, which is a free, privacy--enhancing app with the ability to analyze network traffic on mobile devices in user space. The Lumen runs locally on the device and intercepts all network traffic since it inserts itself as a middleware between apps and the network interface (\cite{Razaghpanah}). Lumen is able to  identify personal data leaks that do not require explicit Android permissions, including software and hardware identifiers. Therefore, Lumen has been used in several cases by the research community for analysing potential personal data leakages from Android devices (see, e.g. \cite{Reyes}).

It should be noted that according to a communication we had with the team developing Lumen, it is possible that some leaks in our current version of Android (i.e. $8$) may not be detectable, since several apps use obfuscation or encoding to upload the data, even for location, and not all such mechanisms are supported in the public version of the Lumen.  Therefore, we additionally performed an analysis through an appropriate module of the Xposed framework\footnote{\url{https://repo.xposed.info}}, namely the Inspeckage Android packet inspector --- that is an application with an internal HTTP server\footnote{\url{https://mobilesecuritywiki.com/}}, which is useful for performing dynamic analysis of Android applications. Due to practical limitations, the Inspeckage Android packet inspector has been installed into a different device with an older version of the Android system, namely Android Lollipop $5.0.1$; it should be pointed out though that, as of July 2019, the Lollipop versions have still about $14.5\%$ share combined of all Android devices accessing Google Play store\footnote{\url{https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards}}. Since the same GPS applications, with the same embedded libraries, have been installed in both devices, it is expected that, for both scenarios we investigated, the same third-party domains collect data  (differences may occur in which personal data the applications get access; for example, Android $8$ does not allow applications getting access to the unique Android ID).

All the experiments took place during February and March $2019$. The default settings were accepted during the installation of all GPS applications, whereas any permission that was required during their execution was also given.

\subsection{Permission analysis of GPS applications}
\label{sec:comparative}

By using the Lumen tool, we observed the permissions that each of the application granted. We noticed that all applications asked   for several access rights that are generally considered by the Lumen tool as high or medium risk with respect to user's privacy, such as the access to external storage and to the existing accounts on the device; all the permissions that are characterised as high-risk by Lumen are also considered as dangerous in \cite{android19}. We summarize our observations, focusing explicitly on the so-called high-risk permissions,  in  Table \ref{tab:permissions}).

\begin{table}[!h]
\centering
\caption{Dangerous permissions (\texttt{android.permission.}$\star$) obtained by GPS navigation apps}
\label{tab:permissions}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{4pt}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.1}
\begin{tabular}{lccccc}
\hline
Permissions & Google Maps  & Sygic   & TomTom  & MAPS.ME & MapFactor \\
\hline
${\tt ACCESS\_COARSE\_LOCATION}$ & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} \\
${\tt ACCESS\_FINE\_LOCATION}$ & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$}\\
${\tt READ\_EXTERNAL\_STORAGE}$ & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} \\
${\tt WRITE\_EXTERNAL\_STORAGE}$ & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} \\
${\tt CAMERA}$ & {\large$\times$} &  {\large$\times$} & & & \\
${\tt GET\_ACCOUNTS}$ & & {\large$\times$}  &  {\large$\times$} & & \\
${\tt RECORD\_AUDIO}$ & {\large$\times$}  & {\large$\times$} & & &  \\
${\tt READ\_CONTACTS}$ & {\large$\times$}  & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & &  \\
${\tt WRITE\_CONTACTS}$ &  &  & {\large$\times$} & &  \\
${\tt READ\_PHONE\_STATE}$ &  &  & {\large$\times$} & & {\large$\times$} \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

It is of interest that, although all the applications provide similar services, there exist variations on the permissions that each of them requires. Therefore, the intra-library collusion privacy threat seems to be present; for example, if the same third-party library is being used by Google Maps and TomTom or Sygic and TomTom, then such a library will obtain all high-risk permissions  that are shown in Table \ref{tab:permissions}.

It should be explicitly pointed out that none of these permissions should be considered, by default, as unnecessary; for example, obviously, having location permission is prerequisite for GPS apps. Moreover, depending on the services provided, several other permissions may still be needed. However, it is questionable whether sufficient information is provided to the users regarding the necessity of these permissions, as well as whether third-party domains also get such permissions and have access to device data, as discussed next.

\subsection{Data traffic to third-party domains}

By using the Lumen monitoring tool, we noticed that, for all GPS applications studied, there exists data traffic to several domains. With respect to Advertising Tracking Services (ATS), there exists - based on Lumen's output - one ATS in Google Maps, four ATS in Sygic, two ATS in TomTom, six ATS in MAPS.ME and  two ATS in MapFactor. Indicative screenshots from the Lumen tool are  provided in Fig. \ref{fig:leakage}.

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\includegraphics[width=0.98\textwidth]{leakage_all.png}\centering
\caption{Data leakages to several domains for the Google Map app, the Sygic app, the TomTom app, the MAPS.ME app and the Map Factor app respectively.}
\label{fig:leakage}
\end{figure}

By combining the outputs derived from both the Lumen and the Inspeckage tools, we summarize the results regarding the data leakages to several domains (either ATS or not) in Table \ref{tab:summary}; note that both first-party and third-party domains are shown. Based on these outputs, we conclude that, in most cases, the ATS that are associated with the apps are more than their number that was initially estimated by the Lumen tool.

\begin{table}[!t]
\centering
\caption{Data leakages by GPS navigation apps to several domains (either first or third-party)}
\label{tab:summary}
\setlength{\tabcolsep}{4pt}
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.1}
\begin{tabular}{lccccc}
\hline
Domains & Google Maps  & Sygic   & TomTom  & MAPS.ME & MapFactor \\
\hline
\url{app-measument.com} & {\large$\times$} &  & &  &  \\
\url{google.com} & {\large$\times$} &  & &  & {\large$\times$}  \\
\url{youtube.com} & {\large$\times$} &  & &  &  \\
\url{appsflyer.com} &  & {\large$\times$} & & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{crashlytics.com} &  & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{facebook.com} &  & {\large$\times$} &  & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{foursquare.com} &  & {\large$\times$} &  & &  \\
\url{infinario.com} &  & {\large$\times$} &  &  &  \\
\url{sygic.com} &  & {\large$\times$} &  &  &  \\
\url{uber.com} &  & {\large$\times$} &  &  &  \\
\url{windows.net} &  & {\large$\times$} &  &  & {\large$\times$} \\
\url{adjust.com} &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  &  \\
\url{tomtom.com} &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  &  \\
\url{flurry.com} &  &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{maps.me} &  &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{mopub.com} &  &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{my.com} &  &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{pushwoosh.com} &  &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{mapswithme.com} &  &  &  & {\large$\times$} &  \\
\url{mapfactor.com} &  &  &  &  & {\large$\times$}  \\
\url{google-analytics.com} & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$}  &  &  & {\large$\times$}  \\
\url{googlesyndication.com} &  &   &  &  & {\large$\times$}  \\
\url{googleadservices.com} &  &   &  &  & {\large$\times$}  \\
\url{akamaized.net} &  & {\large$\times$}  &  &  &   \\
\url{twitter.com} &  & {\large$\times$}  & {\large$\times$} & {\large$\times$}  &   \\
\url{doubleclick.net} &  &   &  & {\large$\times$}  &  {\large$\times$}  \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{table}

We subsequently focused on the exact personal data, including device data, that are being transmitted to these domains. As explained previously, we utilized both the Lumen monitoring tool (for an Android $8$) and the Inspeckage tool (for an Android Lollipop device).  It should be pointed out that transmission of the GAID to third-party domains has been captured only by the Inspeckage tool, due to the encryption that takes place on such transmissions. An indicative screenshot on the information obtained by the Inspeckage tool is shown in Fig. \ref{fig:inspeckage}.

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\includegraphics[width=0.75\textwidth]{Inspeckage.png}\centering
\caption{Transmission of the GAID to the \url{flurry.com}, based on the analysis through the Inspeckage tool.}
\label{fig:inspeckage}
\end{figure}

Our analysis illustrated that the GAID, as a unique device identifier, is being collected by several ATS services - namely by \url{infinario.com} (via the Sygic app), by \url{appsflyer.com} (via Sygic and MAPS.ME apps), by \url{twitter.com} (via Sygic, TomTom and MAPS.ME apps), by \url{flurry.com} (via the MAPS.ME app), by \url{windows.net} (via Sygic and MapFactor apps) and by \url{crashlytics.com} (via the MAPS.ME app).

Interestingly enough, we noticed that there exist domains which may collect a combination of personal data due to the fact that are being embedded into several different apps. For example, the domain  \url{crashlytics.com} collects the Facebook ID via the app [2]. Hence, if both apps [2] and [4] are being installed into the same device, both the GAID and the Facebook ID are being transmitted to this domain, thus allowing this ATS service linking a device with a social network user. Ofcourse, it is also possible that such a pair - i.e. GAID and Facebook ID - are also being sent to an ATS service through a unique app; this is the case, e.g. of app [4] that sends these data to \url{appsflyer.com}. Moreover, it is highly probable that these domains may also collect user's information through other smart apps that are installed into the device, thus further increasing the privacy risks. For example, again for the Crachlytics tracking service, the Lumen tools informs us that several apps that are installed in our device also communicate with this domain; this is shown in Fig. \ref{fig:crashlytics}.

\begin{figure}[!h]
\includegraphics[width=0.33\textwidth]{crashlytics.png}\centering
\caption{The percentage of Sygic's outgoing traffic corresponding to the crashlytics service, as well as an enumeration of other apps in our device communicating with this service (including the two other GPS apps [2] and [3]).}
\label{fig:crashlytics}
\end{figure}

Apart from the content of the information itself, it is of interest to investigate whether this information is being transmitted in a secure way - i.e. appropriately encrypted.  To this end, we utilized the Lumen monitoring tool, which also provides information on the protocols that the applications use in order to transmit data to several domains. The output of Lumen indicates that the vast majority of the output traffic generated by these applications is indeed encrypted through the HTTPS protocol or the Quic protocol (in case of the Google Maps app). In two apps, the whole amount of outgoing data is encrypted, whereas in the remaining three apps the proportion of the encrypted outgoing traffic ranges from $57\%$ to $68\%$; these are shown in Fig. \ref{fig:https}. Therefore, although we may conclude that, generally, encryption is in place for protecting the personal data that are being transmitted, it seems that there is room for improvement in some cases.

\begin{figure}[!ht]
\includegraphics[width=0.93\textwidth]{https.png}\centering
\caption{Protocol usage by GPS navigation apps}
\label{fig:https}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Transparency of the processing}

With regard to the transparency of the underlying data processing, we studied the privacy policies of the GPS applications. As of July 2019, the main conclusion is that the information provided therein does not suffice to clarify all the processes that have been noticed by our above dynamic analysis. For example, in one case, the privacy policy of the app states (where the name of the organisation providing the app is being mentioned as {\em Company}): \begin{quote}\em When using the software on certain mobile devices, the Company may need to access and collect certain details and data from your mobile device including details of your location (shall include, but not be limited to country, state, city/town/locality, street). The company collects and stores such information:
\begin{itemize}
\item to inform you about your location;
\item to send you notifications or content according to your location;
\item to show you content (e.g. images) according to your location;
\item to inform you about your goal course;
\item to inform you about certain points of interest (e.g. museums, stores, restaurants, hotels, gasoline stations etc.);
\item to inform you about other user's comments on certain points of interest;
\item to improve Services.
\end{itemize}
(...) The Company's Services may contain features, functionalities and/or third party offerings that may link you or provide you with certain reference, functionality or products of third parties ("Other Services"). These Other Services are provided by the Company only as a convenience. The Other Services are not controlled by the Company in any way and the Company is not responsible for the content of any such Other Services, any link contained therein or for the performance, availability, or quality, of any Other Service.
\end{quote}
Similar statements generally occur in all applications; even in cases that more details on the data process are given, there is still room for improvement with respect to the transparency of the processing.

\section{Conclusions}
\label{sec:conclusions}
In this work we focused on five popular GPS navigation applications for Android platforms, with the aim to examine whether they suffer from known privacy issues that are present in the mobile applications ecosystem, taking into account relevant legal provisions. The main findings of our preliminary analysis can be summarized as follows:
\begin{itemize}
\item It is possible that some GPS applications, taking into account their access rights, process some personal data in a way that it is questionable if the data protection by design and by default principles are being met.
\item The known privacy threat that rests with the so-called intra-library collusion seems to exist in GPS applications we tested.
\item The information that is provided to the users regarding the relevant underlying personal data processing is not always complete or clear; this in turn weakens the validity of the user's consent.
\item In some cases it is possible that outgoing data generated by these applications are not encrypted.
\end{itemize}

The above validates  the data protection issues that are present in the mobile applications ecosystem. Although such issues are known to exist for several types of smart apps (see, e.g. \cite{Chatzistefanou,Ikram,Ren}), the fact that they are also present in applications processing user's location has significant importance as it may result higher privacy violations. Moreover, it should be pointed out that the above findings do not necessarily constitute an exhaustive list; there is still room for further analysis of these apps (e.g. via performing static analysis on their source code) in conjunction with other popular apps that are expected to be present into a smart device.

From this research, it becomes prominent that much effort should be put on promoting the data protection by design and by default principles in smart applications such as privilege separation strategies for apps and their embedded libraries, proper pseudonymisation techniques, as well as improvement on personal data policies (both on their content/clarity but on their ease on readability). This way we are taking the right steps to mitigate intra-library collusion and protect users privacy.

\section*{Acknowledgment}
The authors would like to thank Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez from the International Computer Science Institute (ICSI) in Berkeley for providing useful explanation on the Lumen tool's monitoring process, as well as the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


UBL (796) - See the post dated 18th Nov. "mentioned support 720 (exactly it came down to 720 on 22nd Nov.) and mentioned first upside target 840 (exactly it went up to 838 on 13th DEC). So all mentioned levels in the post are remain same and intact.
TATAELXSI (347) - Posted on 25th Nov when it was trading at 244 "Face resistance 254-264, but trade and stays above that upside target 345---365"
that is more than 30 % return that to less than one month.
if it happen, will post the mega target .
RECLTD (205) - Posted on 05th Nov. "Resistance 207-213, But trade and stays above that up side target 230-236"
but in case trade and stays above that, then already mentioned on 18th Nov. positional target of 470-480 intact.
but still the target of 470-480 is due.
ASIANPAINT (485) - Posted on 22nd Nov. "upside resist 515-520, below 505 down side target 485"


Should you have any questions, comments or concerns for Hon. Tony Clement, please feel free to get in contact at either the Parliamentary Hill or Constituency office.
You can also send an email to Tony.Clement@parl.gc.ca or call at 1-866-375-8669 (toll free).


Plenty declare television as a parenting plague, the bane of childhood development. To that I say poppycock and pishtosh.
Here's why I let my kids watch television and it has to do with building connections.
But first, let's look at why television is supposed to be so bad for us.
What's Wrong with Watching TV?
I disagree with the typical Montessori point of view on this issue. While I agree with the basic premise that children should not spend their whole lives in front of the television, I believe it is important for them to watch some. If parents can time this to maximize their own productivity, or to rejuvenate themselves, fine.
Or they could watch television with their children (though I confess that is hard to do: Even the finest shows targeted at children can only be tolerated so much; even laundry seems appealing after so many episodes of Dora the Explorer).
But the reason I feel it is important for children to watch some television is because they are a part of the world, and it helps–long term–to build a sense of community with their fellow man.
Growing up, I didn't go out much. In fact, I spent most days watching television. I didn't go to all the latest concerts (though I did get the t-shirts and could wear them at school the next day). I didn't attend school dances. I had a social life that revolved around the Indian community, so I went to those dances instead. This may not have been my choice, but I made the best of it. Just as many other people have reasons, sometimes beyond their control, for not living the full high school experience. But while those events seemed so important to my upbringing–and yes, I felt like I missed out–I am still able to find common ground with other people. And part of that is having a shared point of view, which was shaped by television.
Television shows such as the Brady Bunch, Gilligan's Island, Friends, and even Animaniacs help provide a common language to communicate with others. "This is just like that time that Rachel tried to make trifle," I might say, and undoubtedly, some of you would know what I'm talking about. Yes, literary references are great, and I use those as well, but why restrict our kids to only being able to relate to intellectuals? People from entirely different backgrounds can find common ground thanks to television.
That said, my children rarely watch television during the week, and only occasionally on weekends, because they do manage to find other things to do. And that's what the real goal is, right? That they not be such slaves to screen-time that they cannot exercise their own minds? I believe that the most important lesson I can teach my kids is how to never be bored. I could sit in an empty room with nothing, and I wouldn't be bored. I may get uncomfortable, and hungry, and eventually have to use the bathroom, but I would not be bored. Because my brain never shuts up. And yes, I did manage to get this way with a childhood spent watching lots of television.
So the next time someone tries to make you question whether your child ever stops watching television, tell them you're helping their long-term social development.
I really like that! It makes me fell not so bad about allowing my son to watch TV. Thanks so much for this!


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Subaru has recently released the first teaser image of the 2015 WRX, ahead of its unveiling that would take place at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
Considered to be a preview to the WRX concept, this production model in the image has an aggressive front fascia with a prominent grille that is flanked by LED-infused headlights. Other highlights of the model include a new front bumper and a familiar ram air hood.
The company did not comment on the specifications but there have been previous reports that have indicated that the model could come equipped with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine that would generate an output of at least 265 hp (198 kW).
The company has further states that the WRX will be showcased in the show alongside a mysterious design concept model but there's no word on what it will be and the company has kept it a top secret till now.
However we expect that the details of both the WRX and the mysterious concept would be out soon as the show comes near and so we need to wait for a little more time to get the official news on the same.


Critical Care Units represent the apex of technical advancements in Medicine. Such Units integrate many Specialties and diverse technologies offering the possibility of survival of patients' life. It is therefore, obvious that the role of Critical Care Services is vital and crucial to a tertiary care hospital, as the Units contribute immensely to acute and critical patients. Creating a Critical Care Unit that meets international standards is a complex process. This is because Critical Care is a specialty that cut across traditional Departmental boundaries typically seen in hospitals and also draws ideas from a wide range of specialties in any hospital including Anesthesiology, Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Surgery etc.
The Critical Care Unit of Westfort Hospital has already created a benchmark in the treatment of serious patients. It is a 30 bedded Unit with hi-tech monitoring facilities including Ventilators in ICCU, Dialysis and CRRT. It has ICP Monitoring Systems and a team of dedicated Resident Doctors, Nurses, and an Intensivist to bring it at the apex of service sector. Round the clock facilities provided here are blessings to the most critical patients. Neuro Surgery Theatre is equipped with the most modern operative microscope for Micro Neuro Surgery, Brain & Spine Surgery for Brain Tumor, Vascular Lesion, Spine Tumor and Spine Instrumentation.


Genii Magazine: September 2013 ISSUE (Instant Download) The oldest and most respected magic magazine on the planet. This month features Mike Caveney Wonders!. READ INSTANTLY.
I like how the magazine is going to video; it's great to see the effects shown and explained, so now you know how they are supposed to look like live, also good to see and hear commentaries from the pros.


This week we asked: What does kid art look like?
Coyote (4 months) contributes to Mom and Dad's gratitude list.
Geneva blogs at The Mommy Dialogues.
Making the most of toddler scribbles, by Noah and Heidi!
Wendy K blogs at ABCs & garden peas.
This is Andrew, at age 2.5. He loves to draw, and this is his version of a mouse!
Humnoy's first free-hand work of (kid) art at 12 months!
Submitted by The Laotian Commotion.
Leta blogs at Attachment Mummy.
A recent masterpiece (as Mikko termed it): Two friends in the snow. I get a kick out of how big everyone's eyes are, and how their smiles go off their heads.
Tyler likes to design oufits.
Sasha loves to paint with big sister Tyler.
Tyler & Sasha's mommy blogs at Momma Jorje.
Tell us: What does kid art look like in your family?
Love seeing everyone's artwork! The colorful finger paints are lovely, and Tyler's got a great eye for design.
Oh I love kids art – such free expression. Keep creating!
I love all of this art! It's so fun to see what kids can create.
Love all of these! 🙂 I can't wait to get started on art with my little one when she is a bit older (3 months now). Wow, Andrew sure can draw for 2.5!!
I can't believe I missed out on showcasing our 'wall art'. These are cute.
So much fun art! I love the NOAH piece and Wendy's photo is so gorgeous & colorful!
Everyone is so creative! Kid art is so much fun, too, isn't it?