Research from a leading academic shows #Android users have #advertising #cookies and other gizmos working to build profiles on them even before they open their first app.

Doug Leith, professor and chair of computer systems at Trinity College Dublin, who carried out the research, claims in his write up that no consent is sought for the various identifiers and there is no way of opting out from having them run.

He found various mechanisms operating on the Android system which were then relaying the data back to #Google via #pre-installed #apps such as Google Play Services and the Google Play store, all without users ever opening a Google app.

https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/04/google_android/

How Google tracks Android device users before they've even opened an app

: No warning, no opt-out, and critic claims ... no consent

^{Connor Jones (The Register)}