A website that allowed Gindr’s gay-dating app users to see who blocked them on the service says that by using the company’s API it was able to view unread messages, email addresses, deleted photos, and—perhaps most troubling—location data, according to a report published Wednesday.
The website, C*ckblocked, boasts of being the “first and only way to see who blocked you on Grindr.” The website’s owner, Trever Faden, told NBC that, by using Grindr’s API, he was able to access a wealth of personal information, including the location data of users—even for those who had opted to hide their locations.
“One could, without too much difficulty or even a huge amount of technological skill, easily pinpoint a user’s exact location,” Faden told NBC. But before he could access this information, Grindr users first had to supply C*ckblocked with their usernames and passwords, meaning that they voluntarily surrendered access to their accounts.
Grindr said that, once notified by Faden, it moved quickly to resolve the issue. The API that allowed C*ckblocked to function was patched on March 23rd, according to the website.
Source: Grindr’s API Surrendered Location Data to a Third-Party Website—Even After Users Opted Out
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