10 most data consuming Android apps

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Several Google Android mobile phone applications, including the Angry Birdsgame, have been found to extract personal information of users like their location and contacts.

The other nine applications include Toss It game, Talking Tom virtual pet, Backgrounds HD Wallpapers, Dictionary.com, Mouse Trap game, Horoscope, Shazam music, Brightest Flashlight and Pandora Internet Radio, the Daily Mail has reported.

The list, compiled by Carnegie Mellon University researchers, in Pittsburgh, US, was released after analysing the 100 most popular applications on the android system.

Dr. Jason Wong, a faculty at the university's Human-Computer Interaction Institute, said that although applications such as Google Maps were expected by users to take their personal details, the Angry Birds and the Brightest Flashlight applications came as a complete surprise for a majority of people.

Users, who do not know why their details are taken, may be facing potential privacy issues, since they have some level of informed consent, said Dr. Wong.

They would be less suspicious if they were told as to why the information is extracted, he added.

According to Dr. Wong, development of efficient business models to keep user privacy and better policies is necessary for removing the suspicion of users.

Sadeh, however, added that developers of such applications are invited by platforms to collect more than relevant information, which they may use in an improper manner.