“Memory Up” is an application available for Google’s Android smartphone that is reported to be having negative effects and could possibly even be  doing malicious things.  Users are reporting that the application is erasing data, spamming contacts, adware being installed and memory cards being erased or altered.

By many definitions this application could itself be adware/malware and is making many people question the openness of the Android platform.  The application is advertised as optimizing the phone’s memory usage and keeping the phone running fast.  There is actually no need for this type of utility on the Android due to it’s built in memory management.

Memory Up has frequently been a featured application when entering the Android marketplace which has deceived many people into thinking it was a good application.  This opens up another topic on whether Google needs to have better control of the applications featured.

It is very possible that this application is not malicious but if that is the case why are so many users reporting problems with it?  There are also many people reporting no problems using the application and even defending it but at what length does Google need to go to keep this from being an issue?  Security especially on a mobile device is soon to become a very hot issue as they are becoming increasingly popular and attractive to hackers and malware writers.

Check It Out> Android Market via Androinica