Is Pokémon GO Watching You? A Survey on the Privacy-Awareness of Location-Based Apps’ Users

After the NSA surveillance revelations in 2013, people became aware of the lack of privacy with respect to the US government. But are users aware that also apps may spy them, collect and even sell their personal data? From their common behavior during their always-connected every day life, it does not seem so: many people use apps that collect and send their browsing habits to third-parties. An example is the Pokémon GO app, a game that in a few months became a worldwide phenomenon, that in its Privacy policy clearly states that the user allows the app to access his emails, address book, location and other very private personal info. In this work, we examined consumers' attitudes and perceptions regarding their privacy by conducting a survey on 208 participants diverse in age, gender and education. Findings suggest that consumers have very low awareness on privacy issues, and that, when downloading apps, they often fail to read the privacy policy, where it is stated who will gather access to their data and which data will be collected by the app.