Samsung’s ‘free’ Jay Z album delivered via Android spyware app

24 Comments

“In a promotion for its Galaxy phones, Samsung announced it would deliver a million free copies of Brooklyn rapper Jay Z’s new album days before its official release,” Daniel Eran Dilger reports for AppleInsider. “But it did so using a spyware Android app designed to track your location and harvest phone numbers you call, your device ID and which apps you use.”

“Samsung’s free Android mobile app ‘JAY Z Magna Carta’ only works with select models, specifically the new Galaxy S 4, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II,” Dilger reports. “But as New York Times music critic Jon Pareles wrote, ‘It’s an ugly piece of software.'”

Dilger reports, “Taking advantage of Google’s ‘Trojan Horse’ Android security model, the Samsung app simply demands access to a broad range of rights on the user’s phone before allowing installation, even though all it really does is play back the album. It does not add the songs to a user’s music library. This includes tracking users’ ‘precise GPS location.'”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Settle for cheap garbage, expect to get treated like cheap garbage.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Bill” for the heads up.]

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24 Comments

  4. The spyware software may be ugly and yet the beauty of using their Touchwiz Android software is brilliant. Whom ever decided to do this should be promoted! Brilliant!

    I bet their PR company should be able to above 700 the memory retention scale for this promotion.

    Priceless

    Reply

  7. WOW.

    Can you imagine the outrage that would have resulted had Apple done the same thing?

    I can’t believe Samsung actually did this. No, wait, never mind. I just quickly reviewed Samsung’s tack record and realized this is completely consistent with its past behavior.

    Reply

  9. Why are these “wrappers” hitting number one at all. They call this music? EWF, George Duke, Commadores, Stylistics, Smokey, Jackson 5, Kool and the Gang…you know they actually SING and Wow wrote original material. Songs that made you smile, sing, feel good listening to.

    Now we have this guy and yeezus? LOL!

    Reply

  10. Well, like every over rated thing in the universe (Kardashians, pickles, hybrid cars, reality TV, American Idol…) the new Jay Z album is free for a reason. If you played any of his CD’s for anyone, and said, “oh, it’s a new CD from a guy at work, he made it in his basement on his Mac…” The response would be.. EVERY time, “wow, this sucks.”

    Reply

      1. If you don’t like pickles, that’s your problem – not the pickles. They taste great, have a satisfying crunch, and are healthy zero calorie snack.

        Reply

  14. Further down on the comments on the article, there are a few Android apologists who post that this is totally cool because the required permissions are disclosed at the time of install. Because, you know, everyone reads the fine print before installing software.

    ——RM

    Reply

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