Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
androidpolice.com
Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
1–10 of 45 posts
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#2Does anyone else notice this cycle? Write articles about a privacy problem, putting pressure on Google to resolve it, then once they do as was asked, then complain about the edge cases broken by that very privacy improvement.
It feels like playing both sides of an issue to generate twice the traffic.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#3This is throwing the baby with the bathtub, completely ridiculous.
They could remove internet permission from all applications except Google's own Chrome, with that reasoning.
Instead of removing clipboard permissions from all applications, make it a clear option so that the user can give it when needed or only to a specific application, for instance the essential clipboard manager -- that Android incomprehensibly doesn't have and never has, as part of its core. So far only third-party applications have provided this needed feature.
Bundling clipboard with Google's keyboard ( or others like Swiftkey ) that come loaded with unnecessary permissions ( like internet -- I personally never use a keyboard with that permission ! ) and analytics packages is certainly not improving privacy at all.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#4So don't fix actual privacy issues users complain about (i.e. Their whole business model), fix the supposed ones for tools that users enjoy and opt into so that you can feign caring about privacy.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#5This is throwing the baby with the bathtub, completely ridiculous. They could remove internet permission from all applications except Google's own Chrome, with that reasoning. Instead of removing clipboard permissions from all applications, make it a clear option so that the user can give it when needed or only to a specific application, for instance the essential clipboard manager -- that Android incomprehensibly do…
I'd bet that less than 0.1% of users use a custom clipboard. Android's primary focus should be to make the OS secure for the nontechnical majority. These are people who don't understand permissions, and will click on app installer popups. IMHO this is a welcome move.
An alternative would have been to deny all network access to clipboard apps - thereby ensuring that they are not able to steal any data.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#6I've never even thought about clipboard managers for Android. While I can see the lack of such tools might limit some users' productivity, I think the overal result of a change is still a positive one.
I'd much rather see background clipboard access as a separate permission classified as "dangerous", but I doubt most people won't just click allow till the prompts stop happening. Maybe things would improve if aside from a permission, a notification would appear each time an app is accessing/has recently accessed the clipboard, with the option to mute notification sounds about specific apps. That way, background clipboard access is discouraged yet still available.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#7I think there should be an option to allow background access to the clipboard. I use a translation app that listens for a copy and pops up a translation on top of what I'm currently doing. I would prefer not to have to switch apps every time to do this.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#8Does anyone else notice this cycle? Write articles about a privacy problem, putting pressure on Google to resolve it, then once they do as was asked, then complain about the edge cases broken by that very privacy improvement. It feels like playing both sides of an issue to generate twice the traffic.
It seems like Google deliberately misses the point in all privacy related changes. It's not in their interest to do it properly after all. It seems like the standard pattern for Android. Privacy, well the sorry state of, is why I switched to Apple 2 years ago.
There's some pressure to resolve privacy issues so Google changes (breaks) something minor. Something that in no way impacts the top 10 of privacy and tracking issues, so they can carry on selling ads and using data unaffected.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#9Does anyone else notice this cycle? Write articles about a privacy problem, putting pressure on Google to resolve it, then once they do as was asked, then complain about the edge cases broken by that very privacy improvement. It feels like playing both sides of an issue to generate twice the traffic.
Not really.
It seems to me Google releases features without privacy protections, which leads to som legitimate use, but also a lot of privacy abuse. People point out the privacy abuse, and they clamp down on those features. Obviously when they do so they are unable to cover all legitimate use cases immediately, so it’s useful to point out the edge cases they missed so they can work on supporting those edge cases going forward.
Re: Android Q will kill clipboard manager apps in the name of privacy
#10Does anyone else notice this cycle? Write articles about a privacy problem, putting pressure on Google to resolve it, then once they do as was asked, then complain about the edge cases broken by that very privacy improvement. It feels like playing both sides of an issue to generate twice the traffic.
It seems like Google deliberately misses the point in all privacy related changes. It's not in their interest to do it properly after all. It seems like the standard pattern for Android. Privacy, well the sorry state of, is why I switched to Apple 2 years ago. There's some pressure to resolve privacy issues so Google changes (breaks) something minor. Something that in no way impacts the top 10 of privacy and tracking…
> It seems like Google deliberately misses the point in all privacy related changes
Harsh considering the fact that Google has been dedicating resources to privacy and took important steps to that affect with Android O [0] and Android P [1] and now with Android Q.
They hosted a invite-only-industry-experts conference to understand the implications of wide-spread security and privacy issues with Android [2][3].
[0] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2017/12/double-stu...
[1] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2018/12/android-pi...
[2] https://www.blog.google/technology/safety-security/project-s...
[3] https://security.googleblog.com/2018/12/aspire-to-keep-prote...