Beyond apparatus details, data shared over the web by Android and iOS programs may contain private info including place, and age, sex, whether a specified user may be a swinger or while some programs share more sensitive user information, for example sexual preference.

The Guardian, relying on top secret files handed over by whistleblower Edward Snowden, says the spy men are developing capacities to milk this info that is private from programs as innocuous as the Angry Birds game that is insanely popular.

Reporting in partnership together with the New York Times and Pro Publica, they disclosed the NSA and GCHQ have “substantial tools” prepared to throw against iPhone, Android and other mobile platforms.

The bureaus also seemingly think of Google Maps as a gold mine. The Guardian reports that one job included intercepting Google Maps queries from smartphones to accumulate large volumes of place data.

The paper quotes a 2008 file’s gleeful evaluation of the Google Maps work, in

It essentially means that anyone is working in support of a system that is GCHQ.

Given Angry Birds given the secret files use it as a case study, and is, some posts have hung Angry Birds in their headlinery – with headlines rather than undies, although that is like finery.

But Angry Birds should not be singled out as being in any manner corrupted or subverted by the NSA or GCHQ.

The manufacturer of Angry Birds, Rovio, told the Guardian that it wasn’t unaware of any NSA or GCHQ applications looking to pull data from its users that were apps.