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Samsung Embeds Israeli Surveillance App on Phones Across MENA (www.moroccoworldnews.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by cm0002@lemmy.world to c/privacy@programming.dev

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A nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing human rights in digital spaces across West Asia and North Africa — is warning that Israeli-linked software secretly embedded in Samsung phones across the MENA region poses a serious surveillance threat.

According to SMEX, Samsung’s A and M series devices either come preloaded with the app “Aura” or install it automatically through system updates, without the user’s consent. The application reportedly collects a wide range of personal and device-specific data, including IP addresses, device fingerprints, hardware details, and network information.

In 2022, Samsung MENA partnered with Israeli tech company IronSource, integrating its Aura software into Galaxy A and M series phones across the region. The partnership was publicly marketed as a way to “enhance user experience” with AI-powered apps and content suggestions.

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[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Someone in another thread pointed out that reddit users spotted this two gears ago:

https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/1505mzb/what_on_earth_is_ironsource/

[–] AntiBullyRanger@ani.social 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Please use a proxy service like redlib. dx

[–] Turret3857 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Not op but i prefer it when people link the original so libredirect redirects me to the instance I want to use.

[–] AntiBullyRanger@ani.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

This assumes everyone runs Gecko&Webkit. I’m fine with a meta redirector, although.