The user data collected by some smartphone applications can be correlated to real-world identities, Ars Technica reports, posing privacy risks to users of such popular devices as the iPhone, iPod and iPad. According to a paper by Bucknell University Assistant Director of Information Security and Networking Eric Smith entitled "iPhone Applications & Privacy Issues: An Analysis of Application Transmission of iPhone Unique Device Identifiers (UDIDs)," many applications request personally identifiable information affiliated with users' accounts. Smith noted that such data, combined with "extremely long-lived" tracking cookies, could result in companies tracking users' online activities for extended periods of time and across multiple devices, the report states.
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