104 lines
4.3 KiB
HTML
Executable File
104 lines
4.3 KiB
HTML
Executable File
<h2>Research Project</h2>
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<div class="squeeze">
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<p>
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The appchk research project is an effort to shine a light on the background activity of iOS apps, making the otherwise hidden network connections visible to everyone.
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The goal is to make privacy more accessible to the general public.
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And thus create incentives for app developers to respect users’ privacy.
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</p>
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<p>
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We want to offer users, activists, data protection authorities, and data protection officers an easily accessible and flexible tool to assess the privacy measures of iOS applications.
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</p>
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<span>appchk allows users to:</span>
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<ul>
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<li>get a visual overview of an apps communication signature</li>
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<li>assess how an app ranks within its peer group or category</li>
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<li>influence the ranking according to their preferences</li>
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</ul>
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</div>
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<h2>Results</h2>
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<div class="squeeze">
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<p>
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This website is the front-end of the evaluated data.
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All app recordings are collected and displayed here.
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Visually, it shows you how many known trackers an app uses.
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How apps compare to each other, and if there are privacy-friendly alternatives.
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</p>
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<p>
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You can go to <a href="/index/apps/">all apps</a> directly.
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Or, if you’re interested in details, check the <a href="/results/">results section</a>.
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</p>
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</div>
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<h2>appchk – The App</h2>
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<p class="squeeze">
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appchk is a pocket DNS monitor and network filter.<br>
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It helps you identify applications that communicate with other parties.
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</p>
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<div class="xscroll">
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<div class="carousel">
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<img src="static/screenshot1.png" height="400">
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<img src="static/screenshot2.png" height="400">
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<img src="static/screenshot3.png" height="400">
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</div>
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</div>
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<h3>How does it work?</h3>
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<p class="squeeze">
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appchk creates a local VPN proxy to intercept all network connections.
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For each connection, appchk looks into the DNS headers only, namely the domain names.
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These domain names are logged in the background while the VPN is running.
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appchk does not need to be active all the time.
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</p>
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<h3>What about privacy?</h3>
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<p class="squeeze">
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Your data belongs to you.
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Therefore, monitoring takes place on your device only.
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appchk learns only the destination addresses, not the actual data that is exchanged.
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The app does not share any data with us or any other third-party – unless you choose to.
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</p>
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<h3>How can I contribute?</h3>
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<p class="squeeze">
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appchk allows you to record app-specific activity.
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You can share these recordings with the community; it can help you and others avoid phony applications, even before you install an app.
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</p>
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<a id="get-appcheck" class="no-ul" href="https://testflight.apple.com/join/9jjaFeHO" target="_blank">
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<img class="app-icon" src="/static/appchk.svg" alt="app-icon" width="30" height="30">
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<p>
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Get the iOS App and contribute.<br />
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Join the TestFlight Beta.
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</p>
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</a>
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<p class="snd mg_lr">
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Source code is available <a href="https://github.com/ubapsi/appchk-app" target="_blank">on GitHub</a>.
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</p>
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<h2>Limitations</h2>
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<div class="squeeze">
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<p>
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Due to the network extension’s technical limitations, appchk can not detect if a network activity belongs to one app or another.
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It may result in wrong attributions.
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The attributions can be minimized by running only a single application during recording and filter results before contributing.
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The evaluation website will ignore requests that appear only in a small subset of recordings.
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</p>
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<p>
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This project is limited to <b>iOS applications</b>.
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But there are similar projects for Android apps and websites.
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Check these out:
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</p>
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<p>
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> <i><a href="https://github.com/OxfordHCC/tracker-control-android" target="_blank">TrackerControl</a></i> is an Android application that detects and prevents in-app tracking.
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It uses the same approach as appchk does.
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Analyzing DNS traffic on device with a local VPN extension.
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</p>
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<p>
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> <i><a href="https://privacyscore.org/" target="_blank">PrivacyScore.org</a></i> is a tool to analyze websites.
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It allows you to create lists for comparison and ranking.
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Not only does it show you how much tracking is present in a given website.
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It also gives you a report on technical security and privacy measures.
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This way you can evaluate related websites and choose the one with greater privacy benefits.
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</p>
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</div>
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