Do you own a Samsung smartphone? Do you take photos with said phone? Congratulations, there's an excellent chance that your handset is randomly firing off those pictures you've snapped to folks on your contact list without your permission.
According to The Verge, the images are being pushed out by Samsung's cleverly named default messaging app, Samsung Messages. If the fact that your phone might be sending out all of the images its got in storage for the world to see isn't enough of a shit and giggle for you, try this one on for size: Samsung Messages reportedly doesn't even bother to tell you that the operation has been completed. Unless the person who received the photos lets you know that it happened, you'll be completely in the dark about the fact that the photos were uploaded.
From The Verge:
Some users are speculating that this issue has to do with the push of RCS messaging updates, including T-Mobile, which is the carrier for at least one of the affected phones. T-Mobile just issued its RCS update this week, starting with the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. The messaging standard is supposed to make texting look more like chatting in a modern messaging app, complete with read receipts and typing indicators. When reached for comment, a T-Mobile spokesperson told The Verge to "check in with Samsung on this, it's not a T-Mobile issue."
Until carriers and Samsung get this nightmare sorted out, the best way to keep your handset from sharing your photos with the world is to revoke Samsun Messenger's access rights to your smartphone's photos folder.
Image via Wikipedia
