Your Nook Tablet May Contain Spyware
Barnes and Noble’s latest Nook device may contain spyware. The Nook Tablet 7 appears to have shipped with ADUPS installed. ADUPS being software capable of collecting and transmitting data back to base. Which, in this case, means China.
ADUPS installed on the Nook Tablet 7, which Barnes and Noble launched in November, as Linux Journal claims. The Nook Tablet 7 is a tempting prospect, offering an Android tablet and eReader in one $50 device. Unfortunately, it also offers spyware in the form of ADUPS, which was recently found residing in BLU smartphones.
ADUPS is capable of collecting all manner of data from any device it’s installed on, which includes phone calls, text messages, contacts, IP addresses, and app usage, and it can then transmit that data to China, which is what it was found to be doing with data collected from BLU devices.
Barnes and Noble Responds
Barnes and Noble has admitted ADUPS is present on the Nook Tablet 7. However, the company claims ADUPS “never collected any personally identifiable information or location data from NOOK Tablet 7” devices, nor will it do so in the future”.
Fred Argir, Barnes and Noble’s Chief Digital Officer, told 9to5Google:
“NOOK Tablet 7” went on sale on November 26. By that time, the device automatically updated to a newer version of ADUPS (5.5), which has been certified as complying with Google’s security requirements, when first connected to Wi-Fi.”
“We are working on a software update to remove ADUPS completely from the NOOK Tablet 7”. That update will be made available to download within the next few weeks, but in the meantime customers can rest assured that the device is safe to use.”
Returning Your Nook Tablet 7
So it appears that the version of ADUPS currently present on the Nook Tablet 7 isn’t as bad as the former version discovered on BLU devices. And that Barnes and Noble will have removed ADUPS from Nook devices altogether within the next few weeks.
However, if you’re still not satisfied with this situation, you may want to consider ditching your Nook Tablet 7 by making use of Barnes and Noble’s holiday returns policy. This states that customers have until January 31 to return any items bought between November 14 and December 31, as long as they have the box and a receipt.
