Monday, July 28, 2014

Zillow or the NSA? You be the judge

I've been meaning to post about this for a couple of weeks because the whole thing really pisses me off. I passively use the Zillow app to check housing and rental prices. Normally I do an "update all" for my apps because it takes a long time, but something happened a few weeks ago where I had to update Zillow by itself. This is where I became super pissed off about the information they were trying to snarf from my phone. I don't even have an account at Zillow.

I refused to update their app. There are other places to get the data I need.  And now they have taken over Trulia (which doesn't ask for this information) you will have no choice but let them NSA your information if you want to use their app.





They want to know about my identity. The GPS location thing is pretty standard but usually you get to opt out. Not through Zillow!

The biggest thing that pissed me off though is - they want access to the photos that are on my phone. They also want access to video OR AUDIO! Can you believe that shit? How effing creepy is that?

It wants to figure out where you are via Wifi. And Lastly, it wants to know if you are on the phone, and if you are who you are talking to.

Since it was announced today Zillow bought Trulia, which joins two companies that don't actually make any money. You can only conclude the way they are making money is through selling your data.

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