Amazon Bans BLU Android Smartphones Due to Spyware Concerns

[LASER_oneXM]

Smartphone manufacturer BLU is in hot water once again, as security researchers discovered spyware on its devices for the second time, this, in turn, triggering a ban on all models from Amazon.
BLU’s products were first discovered to be shipping with spyware last year in November when researchers at Kryptowire came across an app from Shanghai Adups Technology which was used to collect user data and send it to servers in China.
At that time, BLU confirmed the issue and promised to resolve it, getting in touch with Adups to remove the feature that was collecting user information.

But this week at Black Hat conference, Kryptowire revealed that despite BLU’s claims, data collecting features are still there on BLU’s phones, with at least three models confirmed to be shipping with the spyware.

BLU, however, says these claims are “inaccurate and false reports,” explaining that the company has already “reached out to several reporters to correct their articles and issue apologies, which BLU has started receiving.”

Spyware removed, only telemetry data being collected

The company says that the spyware was removed from its devices after the first reports surfaced in late 2016, but all its models are now completely clean, pointing out that even though some data is collected and sent to China, it’s just the typical information used for diagnosis and telemetry.

 

[codswollip]

Yet it's OK for Amazon to sell "always on" listening and video devices for your home though.... surely these devices don't contain spyware.