@Izzy; I doubt bounty would help but then if it helps, why not and you are pretty rich !

@beeshyams I definitely can afford it, yes :) But I don't want to waste it, though.

@Izzy Thanks Izzy!

@DanBrown Guess I'll write up an article on that as soon as I'm through updating all categories. So I can point to those new indicators in my lists, and place a hint to please contact me if someone knows an API or such to automatically determine those details.

Oh, you didn't refer to that I guess – but you're welcome :)

@Izzy No worries :) I'm more of an observer on this current ad mess, Since I don't really see any these days.

@DanBrown Neither do I, thanks to AdAway :)

But the average user doesn't have this advantage, as the device is not rooted.

Some of those companies offer "opt-out apps" (Airpush, LeadBolt and others – see e.g.: Is safe to give my IMEI to LeadBolt to enjoy apps without advertisement?), but that's pretty fishy: You opt out per device based on the IMEI. Nice: You offer them your IMEI along with some other data, so they can profile you? I'm not that stupid, sorry.

Or look at this, and follow the line on LeadBolt. Quoting:

> At first it went well, but when ads were pushed into people's notification bars and onto phones' desktops, users grew angry. Mr Harris says the company even received death threats.

> …

> Dale Carr, the boss of LeadBolt, which is headquartered in Australia, says his company takes privacy seriously, and that it does not dictate to developers which ad units to choose from the range it offers.

If that's how they "take privacy seriously", then I don't know.

> AirPush and Leadbolt have gained quite a poor reputation for their “aggressive marketing practices,” which include placing ads to the notification/status bar, placing ad-enabled search icons on your mobile desk, and collecting user information.

(Hyphenet; emphasis mine)

> We found that Adsmogo and LeadBolt are two ad libraries that we found seldom appear without malware.

(McAfee)

Reports Show Aggressive Mobile Apps Want Many Permissions They Don't Need – from 2012, but still worth a read.

> roughly a quarter of the apps identified as adware by Symantec collect the device phone number or prompt the user to install other apps. More than two-thirds of ad libraries collect device information, such as its IMEI number or phone producer and model.

(CRN)

Aggressive Ad Providers Spy on 80 Million Mobile Users – 2012, but still holds true (though the numbers will have increased, certainly).

@izzy: Hope you get enough inputs to make a nice blog... Awaiting that and thanking you for the efforts

@beeshyams I will announce it here (in chat) once it becomes available. Already collected a bunch of data (excerpt see above :) to justify an entire article (together with my findings while updating the lists). Whether it's "enough" is a different thing, but some stuff might simply not exist (like a kind of "central registry" to look up "aggressive modules used in Android apps and their impacts on privacy"), unfortunately.

Just added LeadBolt to my Beware those snooping mods! page. Yuck that.