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Comment by seanwilson | Hacker News Reader

So the Amazon Underground tracking requires location tracking as well? If it was just usage tracking I don't see an issue with it seeing as Amazon Underground is meant to be optional and you get free apps in return.

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No it does not. It only requires usage tracking to pay the developer for time used.

Not disagreeing but is there a link that describes what's tracked and will always users see this? They definitely mention usage tracking in the developer documentation. Maybe I'm missing it but I can't see a mention of usage tracking for their main Underground links, just that apps are free:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1003016...

https://www.amazon.com/b/ref=rw_tiny?_encoding=UTF8&node=953...

So what is "data tracking"/"usage tracking" and how is it turned off/blocked on the authors device? As far as I know Cyanogenmod only blocks some APIs like location, contacts

It is an option you can enable / disable on the Underground app.

Any application can request the permission to track certain Android app lifecycle events. In this case, when an app gains and loses foreground focus.

Data and location API access are separate permissions. But if all three are obtained, fairly detailed correlations can be made.

Although I don't know much about Cyanogenmod, it is likely it enables global toggles for the app lifecycle permission.

I too am unclear on whether or not the location tracking was related to the usage tracking. Usage tracking is basically the entire point of Amazon Underground.

I'd be against high precision location tracking being required but city/country level wouldn't bother me.

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