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This was briefly added in Android 4.something, but Google removed it.
Appops. Supposedly there as a test system for apps. I guess to see if they would crash in case of malformed data from sensors etc. Some OEMs, like Huawei, offer similar functionality on their products.
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I honestly don't understand why this is a problem. Isn't it enough that the app says it requires my location when I install it? If you don't like the required permissions no one is forcing you to install it.
Popular apps can essentially request any permission and you'll still download it — are you really going to forgo having Facebook on your phone because it asks for a couple of slightly-objectionable permissions? On iOS, the average user has a chance to download that mainstream app and deny it access to their contacts.
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It's available on iOS: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/documentation/UIKit/...
No it's not. That does not expose voltage and current. The research paper says they're doing this ... ... by repeatedly reading the following two files: /sys/class/power_supply/battery/voltage_now /sys/class/power_supply/battery/current_now
Of course, as soon as you turn the phone back on again, your adversary can pinpoint your location.
I guess the best overall solution would be to eschew having a phone at all.
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I honestly don't understand why this is a problem. Isn't it enough that the app says it requires my location when I install it? If you don't like the required permissions no one is forcing you to install it.
Popular apps can essentially request any permission and you'll still download it — are you really going to forgo having Facebook on your phone because it asks for a couple of slightly-objectionable permissions? On iOS, the average user has a chance to download that mainstream app and deny it access to their contacts.
Then Facebook Lite came out, and it was what I wanted all along.
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Popular apps can essentially request any permission and you'll still download it — are you really going to forgo having Facebook on your phone because it asks for a couple of slightly-objectionable permissions? On iOS, the average user has a chance to download that mainstream app and deny it access to their contacts.
> are you really going to forgo having Facebook on your phone because it asks for a couple of slightly-objectionable permissions? That sounds like you meant it as a rhetorical question, but "yes" is a reasonable answer.
> are [most people] really going to forgo having Facebook [...]
There will certainly always be people who do pay attention to permissions for privacy or security reasons, but they seem* vastly outnumbered by the people who don't.
* Just an intuitive sense, I have not looked for data to back this up.
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Also, there's no way to download an app but deny it some permissions. iOS gets this right: apps don't get to ask for any permissions when you download them, they have to request them at runtime and the user can deny any of them (and the app is still expected to function)
The basic problem is likely that google is in the data gathering business. This to provide ever more targeted ads. Thus they can't have someone block all data going in or out of the device.
Lots of apps want access to folders of pictures and accounts which I assume to be for "sharing" and "social" features I never use. I'd love to disable those manually but currently don't have an avenue to do so.
Of course apps could still set everything to "required" but at least the option for consumer choice is there.
The article mentions that the required permissions are "very common permissions", and then in the next paragraph says that 179 apps on the Google Play store require those permissions. As of July 2014, there were 1.3 million apps in the app store [1]. That's ~0.014% of the apps on the store. Not exactly "very common" in my mind. Although the remark that they are "unlikely to raise suspicion" is valid, especially for t…
I am ver surprised there is still no mass outrage over Android permissions. 1. They are not properly named or explained. And no, this shouldn't be on some obscure website. This should be right there, in the menu that asks for them. 2. There is no way to filter apps in the play store by permissions. This isn't just a privacy thing. Apps that require the least permissions are often least bloated and the most skillfully…
Or worse, the developer might argue that he needs location via GPS for things like regional settings and time sentitive settings, but will also use them to sample your location to a T everytime you move to sell for advertisers. The permission system doesn't show me the difference. There was a report on those free flashlight apps on android. Turns out they were sampling your position thousands of times a day and selling it to advertisers. Not only is that horrific from a privacy perspective, but imagine how much that affects battery life. This is done completely behind the scenes. There's no iOS-like "Do you want this app to use your location." Its just does it - usually as a service in the background.
I have no idea what google is thinking nowadays. Android is pretty much a hand out to the advertising industry. I think this N5 is my last android phone. iOS is the only thing that remotely seems to respect my privacy. Perhaps Windows Phone is good enough now too.
>It's obvious that both of these thing are deliberate, it's obvious that this is an issue, and no one cares.
The typical FOSS coterie always reminding us that Apple and MS are the devil has performed a disservice here. Android seems to be the most hazardous OS out there and its owner is very much wed to the advertising industry and has major disincentives to take these complaints seriously.
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> are you really going to forgo having Facebook on your phone because it asks for a couple of slightly-objectionable permissions? That sounds like you meant it as a rhetorical question, but "yes" is a reasonable answer.
It sounds to me like the question was supposed to read > are [most people] really going to forgo having Facebook [...] There will certainly always be people who do pay attention to permissions for privacy or security reasons, but they seem* vastly outnumbered by the people who don't. * Just an intuitive sense, I have not looked for data to back this up.
Also, the development cost of 'does this feature exist?' for each permission is pretty high.
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I am ver surprised there is still no mass outrage over Android permissions. 1. They are not properly named or explained. And no, this shouldn't be on some obscure website. This should be right there, in the menu that asks for them. 2. There is no way to filter apps in the play store by permissions. This isn't just a privacy thing. Apps that require the least permissions are often least bloated and the most skillfully…
Also, there's no way to download an app but deny it some permissions. iOS gets this right: apps don't get to ask for any permissions when you download them, they have to request them at runtime and the user can deny any of them (and the app is still expected to function)
You have to jump through some hoops to install it because obviously Google doesn't like to encourage this kind of control over your phone, but it's there and I can't imagine using an android phone without it.