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Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

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Re: Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

#201

Post by devinj »

eropple wrote: post #135
kiallmacinnes wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried not opening it? Seriously, if you use any of facebooks stuff, you clearly value something they offer more than your privacy. Everybody, and I'm not just talking about the HN crowd, knows how bad Facebook is when it comes to privacy.

This is the sort of sad comment that continually amazes me. Facebook is am important part of the social life of millions (billions?) of people. It isn't feasible to go away from it. It's completely reasonable to have a requirement to use Facebook while not wanting it to be an ass about stuff like constant GPS fixes. Yeah, sure, don't use Facebook. You're the guy who butts into conversations to tell everyone how you d…

It's pretty feasible, you just don't want to give it up.

Re: Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

#202

Post by pjc50 »

tomrod wrote: post #123
pjc50 wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The touch keyboard lacks feedback but folds to zero size, which is its great advantage. And people are in practice getting along just fine with them, which is why the hardware keyboards have fallen by the wayside. The main obstacle to boot-your-own-phone in the US is of course the carriers.

> The main obstacle to boot-your-own-phone in the US is of course the carriers. Surely if it were profitably one of them would break ranks, right? I mean, we have intelligent businesspeople in telecoms at least occasionally?

It's very anti-profitable for them, because it removes their ability to suppress functionality of your phone in order to sell it back to you.

First rule of phone company: why market when you can monopoly?

Re: Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

#203

Post by em3rgent0rdr »

wting wrote: post #14

If you have root you can still enable it with market apps.[0][1] However something like this needs to be integrated tightly like iOS and apps need to be aware they may not receive requested permissions. I still use App Ops in Kit Kat and it silently breaks apps all the time. Apps expect to be able request information (e.g. contact details) and crash or stall when they can't. In that respect, LBE Privacy Guard[2] was…

There is an opensource privacy guard built into cyanogenmod. I just installed the latest nightly CM 11 on my phone (built off of latest android 4.4.2 kitkat), and was pleased to see textsecure integrated as the default SMS as well. Thankfully the CM community cares about things such as privacy...can't trust the big corporate behemoth google.

Re: Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

#204

Post by kiallmacinnes »

eropple wrote: post #135
kiallmacinnes wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you tried not opening it? Seriously, if you use any of facebooks stuff, you clearly value something they offer more than your privacy. Everybody, and I'm not just talking about the HN crowd, knows how bad Facebook is when it comes to privacy.

This is the sort of sad comment that continually amazes me. Facebook is am important part of the social life of millions (billions?) of people. It isn't feasible to go away from it. It's completely reasonable to have a requirement to use Facebook while not wanting it to be an ass about stuff like constant GPS fixes. Yeah, sure, don't use Facebook. You're the guy who butts into conversations to tell everyone how you d…

> This is the sort of sad comment that continually amazes me.

Frankly, I'm stumped.

There's nothing sad about pointing out that you clearly:

1) Understand the privacy costs associated with Facebook

2) Choose, Yes, Choose to continue using it

What's sad is that you feel it's impossible to continue your social life without it.

Re: Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

#205

Post by eropple »

devinj wrote: post #201
eropple wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the sort of sad comment that continually amazes me. Facebook is am important part of the social life of millions (billions?) of people. It isn't feasible to go away from it. It's completely reasonable to have a requirement to use Facebook while not wanting it to be an ass about stuff like constant GPS fixes. Yeah, sure, don't use Facebook. You're the guy who butts into conversations to tell everyone how you d…

It's pretty feasible, you just don't want to give it up.

That's the typical response. Except that reality doesn't concur. People who stop using Facebook end up excluded from social circles. Not through malice, but because it's harder to be in contact with that one offhand person who Doesn't Even Own A TV--er, sorry, Doesn't Use Facebook. They're sand in the social gears.

(The self-centered prick's response of "then they're not real friends"--which I am addressing because it frequently comes next--willfully ignores that said self-centered prick is making it harder on everyone else to include them. They get excluded because they're being annoying. You have to give to get, and part of your giving is not making everyone else's life difficult because you're frothy about a web company.)

In the U.S. at least, if you have a basic appreciation of people you have formed friendships with over the years, if you value interacting with them over that self-centered Facebook froth, it's not feasible to ditch it. But you can still express a desire for it to improve.

Re: Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

#206

Post by eropple »

kiallmacinnes wrote: post #204
eropple wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the sort of sad comment that continually amazes me. Facebook is am important part of the social life of millions (billions?) of people. It isn't feasible to go away from it. It's completely reasonable to have a requirement to use Facebook while not wanting it to be an ass about stuff like constant GPS fixes. Yeah, sure, don't use Facebook. You're the guy who butts into conversations to tell everyone how you d…

> This is the sort of sad comment that continually amazes me. Frankly, I'm stumped. There's nothing sad about pointing out that you clearly: 1) Understand the privacy costs associated with Facebook 2) Choose, Yes, Choose to continue using it What's sad is that you feel it's impossible to continue your social life without it.

Sorry to disappoint you, but the rest of America has basically abandoned email and Twitter isn't a serious medium for connections (at least, among non-technical people I know; I have a number of friends who use Twitter on the regular, but only a small few use it meaningfully). If you have friends--especially non-technical ones--who aren't in your local area (or, a lot of the time, aren't in your workplace) Facebook is very frequently the only way to keep in regular touch with most of them.

Network effects matter. That's not sad, that's simply reality. The lock-in effect is real and puts you in a position where, yes, you have to use it unless you wish to move out of contact with people. That doesn't mean you have to like it and it doesn't mean you can't, as the person you sneered at did, express a desire for its improvement.

Re: Google Removes Vital Privacy Feature From Android, Claims Release Was Accidental

#207

Post by fooqux »

zrgiu_ wrote: post #170
fooqux wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the article is a tad misleading here, and I think your first link is going to add to the confusion. The ability to revoke permissions was built right into the System Settings app, but the ability to access it was hidden from view. Custom roms would usually add a link to it, and apps like AppOps by ColorTiger (your first link) was simply a pointer that would trigger that view to activate (I'm glossing over the…

Color Tiger dev here - actually with our version and root access you can install a recompiled version of AppOps with a few extended features as well - rebranded as AppOps X

Well, damn. I apologize for creating yet more confusion.
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