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XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

chaos.social

11–20 of 67 posts

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#11
> For a screen saver. A privacy policy. For a screen saver.

The point is that it is obvious to you. It's not obvious to your users. That's what the privacy policy helps with. An app of any kind can be doing more than you may think.

There are many things to complain about with Google. This isn't one of them.

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#12
post #9

I had to rewrite my Google privacy policy at least 4 times before they accepted it. This is the current accepted one: https://victorribeiro.com/privacy_policy.html (i copied from somewhere else and changed it). This is the one they rejected: https://victorribeiro.com/privacy_policy.txt

I mean... the accepted one is better formatted. i would have done the same tbh

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#13
post #7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the value of the developer potentially knowing your IP address? They receive (1) a signal you were potentially interested and (2) can use GeoIP to learn your approximate location. This doesn't seem particularly valuable or egregious, what am I missing?

Until after you read the privacy policy, you can't know what they intend to do with that information. As a trivial example, they might be handing IP address information to third-parties--hell: the website itself might be hosted by a third-party (or might be behind a CDN provided by a third-party) or use frameworks/fonts hosted by third-parties, even if it isn't as ostentatious as "the website this policy is hosted on…

[deleted]

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#14
post #7
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the value of the developer potentially knowing your IP address? They receive (1) a signal you were potentially interested and (2) can use GeoIP to learn your approximate location. This doesn't seem particularly valuable or egregious, what am I missing?

Until after you read the privacy policy, you can't know what they intend to do with that information. As a trivial example, they might be handing IP address information to third-parties--hell: the website itself might be hosted by a third-party (or might be behind a CDN provided by a third-party) or use frameworks/fonts hosted by third-parties, even if it isn't as ostentatious as "the website this policy is hosted on…

Anything that connect internet that means you send IP addresses over to make request

You think only website do this ???

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#15
post #4

I had a small role in helping Jamie port XScreenSaver to Android. It was fun working with someone whose writings I have been reading for thirty years or so, and I learned a lot from him (like the difference between HAVE and USE in C, or how to architect and run a project). Patches are always welcome! Jamie (and/or other helpers) ported things like X11/Xlib to OpenGL, and then OpenGL to OpenGLES for iOS and Android. J…

C doesn’t have things called HAVE and USE. Sounds to me like something to do with Xscreensaver’s build system?

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#16
Dozens of innocuous-seeming apps collect private data. I wish the world wasn't filled with bad actors, but it is. So having a basic privacy policy even for this is annoying, but the answer to "It's a screen saver, why in the world do I need this?" is "because bad actors do bad stuff so everyone suffers."

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#17

> For a screen saver. A privacy policy. For a screen saver. The point is that it is obvious to you. It's not obvious to your users. That's what the privacy policy helps with. An app of any kind can be doing more than you may think. There are many things to complain about with Google. This isn't one of them.

Many, many pieces of malware were distributed as windows .scr files. Some were just viruses abusing the extension. A ton were bonzi-buddy-esque data-harvesters where users were encouraged by advertising to install "Free cute and funny screensavers!" (many were literally just oneko+malware).

Oh, and the part about location data is blatantly untrue, because one of the options on mapscroller is "Current City".

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#18

> For a screen saver. A privacy policy. For a screen saver. The point is that it is obvious to you. It's not obvious to your users. That's what the privacy policy helps with. An app of any kind can be doing more than you may think. There are many things to complain about with Google. This isn't one of them.

You know how we always hear about basic flashlight apps that get used to run advertising click farms in the background, or Flappy Bird knockoffs that collect detailed location data and have access to your photo gallery?

I'm with you on this one. In a perfect world it would be evident that a simple little app isn't doing anything nefarious, but... clearly even a screensaver app can be a front for some nasty shit. Making your good intentions explicit can only help!

Re: XScreenSaver is available on Android. Google requires a privacy policy

#19
post #9

I had to rewrite my Google privacy policy at least 4 times before they accepted it. This is the current accepted one: https://victorribeiro.com/privacy_policy.html (i copied from somewhere else and changed it). This is the one they rejected: https://victorribeiro.com/privacy_policy.txt

I appreciate that the version they indirectly encouraged you to use by rejecting the other one is much more clear about how you not only don't store anything, but don't collect anything. For the pedanticists here which might argue you can't collect anything without storing it, I suspect there's a lot of wiggle room there (even if only in the developers mind and not legally), and the additional information is useful to guard against that.

For example, getting paid to receive and forward data, or to send it directly to a third party may be something a developer could do and thing they are complying with "we don't store your data". Technically correct, probably not legally correct, but unlikely to matter legally unless noticed and they are sued.

Much better to be explicit about things as long as it's still easily readable.

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