Through a screen darkly: discover what your apps connect to

Apps are gateways to services spanning sensitive areas in our lives: health, finances, government services. Yet, anyone can create and distribute apps globally with little oversight. A mental health app might collect chat transcripts, political campaigns apps might send data to commercial entities, different financial apps might all belong to the same firm. How do we know what services our apps connect to behind the scenes? 

In this workshop, we introduce Janus, our open source software that reveals apps’ back-end connectivity and its changes through time. Janus maps and visualises for non-technical users the invisible network of third-party services powering apps. This matters for individuals wanting to understand their apps, NGOs working on privacy and data policy, and journalists/researchers exploring the geopolitics of apps and platforms.

Workshop format: Participants will learn through real-world examples how Janus analyses apps, then conduct hands-on explorations to explore and compare their chosen apps and identify potential issues to explore further. The workshop equips attendees with practical skills to audit apps independently.