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Introducing Cover

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Re: Introducing Cover

#91

Post by normloman »

nl wrote: post #86

Wow, so much negativity! What happened to the dreams of a computer in your pocket that knew what you wanted to do? All anyone can think of is to complain about privacy? Really? I once did a brainstorm session with a facilitator who taught me a great technique. Whenever someone suggests something you aren't allowed to so "No" or "But" - instead you should say "Yes" or "And". Try it for a second: This application tries…

I have found the opposite: If you expose your ideas to the criticism of others, you expose flaws in your idea, which leads you to improve the idea. If you don't like something, say no. Say but. Say the truth.

Re: Introducing Cover

#92

Post by talmand »

nl wrote: post #86

Wow, so much negativity! What happened to the dreams of a computer in your pocket that knew what you wanted to do? All anyone can think of is to complain about privacy? Really? I once did a brainstorm session with a facilitator who taught me a great technique. Whenever someone suggests something you aren't allowed to so "No" or "But" - instead you should say "Yes" or "And". Try it for a second: This application tries…

Why can't this be a good thing with strong privacy protections? What privacy problems are exactly holding it back?

I imagine such a tool that collects such information to make things easier as possibly a wonderful thing. I also imagine such a tool that shares all that information with a third party as possibly a horrible thing.

I would be willing to go along with your thought, as long as I knew that the information being collected was heavily encrypted and that the only person who would ever get to see it is me. Even then, recent events have shown us that encrypted data on someone else's server is not exactly safe from prying eyes.

Don't be so willing to casually toss away your privacy. Once it's gone you may miss it and be unable to get it back.

Re: Introducing Cover

#93

Post by talmand »

Derander wrote: post #80
e12e wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I was excited until I got the point about "our servers". Why would they need any data on their servers just to know when I need to read email? But it's a good idea, hopefully easy to copy and release as an actual app (something I define as an executable that runs *on' a device, not a glorified json interpreter and exchange system).

There is probably useful analysis that they can perform in aggregate across all of their users. Perhaps people who read email are more likely to do at a certain time and that signal is only noticeable with more data than you as an individual generate.

Seems that type of analysis is not really helpful in the long run. It should be catering to me, not what it thinks I need based on other people's habits. If my habits are completely different than everybody else's, then the results it provides are almost always off. Then it has to figure things out again solely using me, which it should have done in the first place.

Re: Introducing Cover

#94

Post by talmand »

mayankkumar wrote: post #78
mortenjorck wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real product here is almost certainly an analytics service. From Cover's privacy policy at https://www.coverscreen.com/privacy : Cover records the following items: The list of apps installed on your phone, including which apps are on your homescreen and dock The number of times you run an app, including the time and place where you ran it (specifically, the cell tower or wifi network you were connected to, or tha…

It would be interesting to read the app permissions on Google Play when this app launches.

It sounds like it requires everything.

Re: Introducing Cover

#95

Post by talmand »

bovermyer wrote: post #35
brymaster wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When we give up all privacy, suddenly it no longer exists.

This is true. And... if you're on the Internet, I'm sorry, but you can have no reasonable expectation of privacy. That includes owning a smartphone.

An app on a phone doesn't necessarily qualify as being "on the Internet". That's like saying if you use Calculator on your PC then you shouldn't expect privacy on the Internet.

Re: Introducing Cover

#96

Post by talmand »

cik wrote: post #83
bovermyer wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is true. And... if you're on the Internet, I'm sorry, but you can have no reasonable expectation of privacy. That includes owning a smartphone.

Agreed. Smartphones are nice little tracking devices, now helpfully with GPS!

Using GPS to track someone is for lazy people. If they have a signal, you don't need GPS to have an idea of where they are.

Re: Introducing Cover

#97

Post by nooneelse »

jjcm wrote: post #28
cik wrote: post #11

This terrifies me. There's an instant problem of paranoia, and trust here. I would never be okay with the idea of an application monitoring what I'm doing, in order to reorder itself. Mind you, I say all this without knowing if it requests network access. How do I know you're not sending my usage patterns upstream to CoverCorp? How do I know that you're not reading the Android Music Provider database, and sharing my…

I feel like the benefits outweigh the potential for downsides. Seeing potential is immediately obvious - but a company having anonymous application launch data seems harmless, and finding a way that the information you're sending them could directly impact your life in a negative way seems like a snipe hunt. Especially if you limit it to scenarios where the data benefits their company and negatively impacts you - it…

How can data used to watch for when a person is at home and work be considered anonymous? How many people do you live with and also work with and also carpool with?

Re: Introducing Cover

#98

Post by nl »

nl wrote: post #86

Wow, so much negativity! What happened to the dreams of a computer in your pocket that knew what you wanted to do? All anyone can think of is to complain about privacy? Really? I once did a brainstorm session with a facilitator who taught me a great technique. Whenever someone suggests something you aren't allowed to so "No" or "But" - instead you should say "Yes" or "And". Try it for a second: This application tries…

I'm sad to see that EVERY SINGLE REPLY to this comment was "Yes.. but", and the issues raised were exactly the same as in every other thread on this story.

I find that more disappointing than the undoubted privacy issues in the application itself. I would note that the privacy issues in this application are no different to those in any other application with a serverside back end.

But I guess we feel we need to prove how smart we are by dissecting them.. again.

Re: Introducing Cover

#99

Post by dragonwriter »

alaskamiller wrote: post #46
brymaster wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Right, and... what would the harm be there? That's a little too obvious to state so I won't pretend there's people here that haven't figured that out yet for the sake of overly-pedantic or naive arguing. You're moving into "nothing to hide, nothing to fear" territory. > Is that just a fundamental value for you? Yep. It's in my country's constitution and protected under various laws.

You probably mean bill of rights. The US Constitution has no wording expressing any concerns over an American's privacy.

The Bill of Rights is part of the Constitution.
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