These apps, one of which streams Sai Baba stories and another which streams Ilaiyaraaja songs, were being used to gather user data like GPS locations and business messages from banks and online shopping sites to monitor people’s spending patterns, contacts and other similar information.
CreditVidya, a Hyderabad-based fintech startup, scalped data from unsuspecting consumer by embedding a tracking software inside popular apps, reports HuffPost India.
One of these apps streamed stories of Sai Baba, and another which streamed songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja, and were being used to gather user data like GPS locations, business messages from banks and online shopping sites to monitor people’s spending patterns, contacts and other similar information.
For several months in 2017, this startup ran the snooping code (called a Software Development Kit or SDK) until an update in the Android operating system made it difficult to rip off data.
CreditVidya used all the data to power its self-learning algorithms, which in turn helped lenders determine the credit-worthiness of loan applicants. Such snooping tools like the one used by this company are called ‘Middleware’.
Middleware refers to a key bit of code that carries out funcations vital for the operation the app. However, developers’ reliance on third-party developed middleware increases the risk that user data is exposed to.
Many of these apps were developed by third party developer Winjit, and on installing these, users would have been asked for access permissions. However, usually unaware that such things could have an impact on their credit-worthiness vis-à-vis their personal data, many users may have granted permissions without much thought.
The report also quoted Fredrike Kaltheuner, a data expert from the Data Exploitation Programme of Privacy International, which advocates for user privacy. He said that such algorithms are proprietary and hence inauditable, thereby raising a question on whether such credit-rating apps even work. “Given how un-transparent the industry is, it’s hard to say if this information is actually helping anyone get a loan. There are a lot of companies in this space now, but their algorithms are a black box, and the data they use is usually not clear either,” he said.India Union Budget 2019: What does Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have up her sleeve? Click here for top and latest Budget news, views and analyses.
