Pune: The number of android apps asking for camera and microphone permissions on smartphones has increased from 45% to 68% and 28% to 54%, respectively, in the last five years, according to a study by data security and privacy firm Arrka titled ‘State of data privacy of Indian mobile apps and websites’.

The study involved 201 Indian mobile apps and websites from 100 organisations across 25 industries. Arrka tracked various privacy parameters over five years. Here are some of its findings:

• Google is the single largest third party with whom data is being shared, followed by Facebook. Google’s trackers were present in 97% of the websites and Facebook’s in 55%.
• Around 42% android apps share data with Google, and 25% with Facebook. A possible reason for this could be that organisations are providing newer services/features based on these permissions.

“India Inc. seems to have continued on its trajectory of paying scant attention to data privacy, with the unstated paradigm being ‘let the law come’. This is evident from the data in this study where most privacy-specific parameters seem to have only become worse,” said Shivangi Nadkarni, CEO, and Sandeep Rao, principal consultant.

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