Amazon accused of secretly tracking consumers through cellphones, Reuters says

Amazon has been accused of secretly tracking customers’ movements through their mobile phones and selling the data it collects, Reuters’ Jonathan Stempel reports. According to a proposed class action in San Francisco federal court, Amazon obtained “backdoor access” to consumers’ phones by providing tens of thousands of app developers with Amazon Ads SDK to be embedded in their apps, enabling the company to collect geolocation data about where consumers live, work, shop and visit, and revealing other sensitive information. “Amazon has effectively fingerprinted consumers and has correlated a vast amount of personal information about them entirely without consumers’ knowledge and consent,” the complaint said.