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"You can tell a lot about a person based on her smartphone apps \u2014 but probably not as much as the National Security Agency can deduce.\nThe NSA, along with its British counterpart the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), has been tapping \"leaky\" mobile apps for information about targets since 2007. Newly revealed classified documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden reveal that the intelligence agencies gathered personal information such as users' location, age and sex from apps like Angry Birds.\nSee also: What Obama's NSA Reforms Mean for Your Data\nThree news organizations \u2014 the New York Times, the Guardian and ProPublica \u2014 jointly published the newly revealed documents Monday.\nThe Guardian report on the documents explained the plethora of information intelligence agencies can gather from apps:\nThe data pouring onto communication networks from the new generation of iPhone and Android apps ranges from phone model and screen size to personal details such as age, gender and location. Some apps, the documents state, can share users' most sensitive information such as sexual orientation \u2013 and one app recorded in the material even sends specific sexual preferences such as whether or not the user may be a swinger.\nThe Times and ProPublica, which published the same report on the documents, wrote of how the NSA and GCHQ have worked together to mine apps for data beginning in 2007.\nSince then, the agencies have traded recipes for grabbing location and planning data when a target uses Google Maps, and for vacuuming up address books, buddy lists, phone logs and the geographic data embedded in photos when someone sends a post to the mobile versions of Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and other services.\nThe documents don't reveal the exact amount and types of data the agencies collect and store from mobile apps. \nThe NSA responded to inquiries about the documents from the news organization with a written statement, saying the agency does not spy on \"everyday Americans\" and \"innocent foreign citizens.\" GCHQ did not comment on its involvement other than to say that its actions were in compliance with British law.\nThe \"perfect scenario,\" according to an online excerpt of the documents referenced in the reports, is when a surveillance target uploads a photo from a mobile device to a social media site. \nThe documents suggest the agencies can cross-reference information gathered from apps with that gathered through a previously revealed spying program called XKeyscore, which allows NSA agents without prior authorization to search a huge database of information about targets such as their Internet browsing history, searches, emails and online chats. \nThough NSA leaks have become commonplace since June, these new revelations come 10 days after President Barack Obama promised to reform certain controversial government surveillance tactics like the NSA's bulk collection and storage of telephone metadata. \nObama did not mention any plans to reform other bulk data collection programs, such as this mobile app data mining or the NSA's daily collection of hundreds of millions of text messages.\nUPDATE - Jan. 28, 9:30 a.m. ET: Rovio, the Finnish maker of Angry Birds, posted a statement on the company's website, saying it \"does not share data, collaborate or collude with any government spy agencies such as NSA or GCHQ anywhere in the world.\"\nThe company, instead, suggests the surveillance mentioned in these leaked documents may be conducted through third party advertising networks used by many apps and websites.\n\"If advertising networks are indeed targeted, it would appear that no internet-enabled device that visits ad-enabled web sites or uses ad-enabled applications is immune to such surveillance,\" the statement reads.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/01/27/nsa-apps-surveillance/>