How Google Harvests Android Messages & Calls and What It Means for Your Privacy

Google’s Backend Collection of Android Messages and Call Numbers

According to a paper by Douglas Leith of Trinity College Dublin, Google Messages and Google Dialer continuously send user communication data to Google Play Services Clearcut and Firebase Analytics. The data includes hashed messages linking sender and receiver, call start time, duration, and the phone number involved, as well as app usage metrics, without an opt‑out option.

Both apps are pre‑installed on over a billion Android devices worldwide, yet they lack specific privacy policies. Google’s response includes six changes such as updating onboarding to link to the consumer privacy policy, stopping collection of carrier service logs, reducing telemetry identifiers, and clarifying call‑screening information.

GNOME 42 Official Release

GNOME 42 brings major visual and functional upgrades, including a system‑wide dark‑mode theme, refreshed folder icons, a new screenshot and screen‑recording tool, migration of the default text editor from Gedit to GNOME Text Editor, and a new console replacing GNOME Terminal. The desktop now supports RDP in remote‑desktop, hardware‑accelerated web browsing, and faster file indexing.

Key visual changes are illustrated below.

Lapsus$ Hack Involving a 16‑Year‑Old

Security researchers linked a 16‑year‑old from near Oxford to the Lapsus$ group, alleging he coordinated attacks on Microsoft, Nvidia, and Samsung, stealing up to 1 TB of data including Windows source code. The group also reportedly compromised Nvidia’s internal network and exfiltrated 190 GB of Samsung Galaxy source files.