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Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

pcmag.com

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Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#121

Post by Operyl »

SilasX wrote: post #118
charrondev wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how photos access on iOS works. An app can ask for access to photos and you can choose 3 options: - no photos - only specific photos (the system picker will appear to select them) - all photos

That was a change that seemed to add inconvenience but no additional security. Now I have to first approve an individual photo, then search the pre-approved photos for the photo I just added (they will be sorted by time). Why can't they just let me approve and add a photo at the same time?

You can unselect all from the dialog every time, iirc, as a work around for this.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#122

Post by mrbungie »

patch_cable wrote: post #103
charrondev wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how photos access on iOS works. An app can ask for access to photos and you can choose 3 options: - no photos - only specific photos (the system picker will appear to select them) - all photos

Regretfully, it seems on iOS apps can tell they’ve been given access to only specific photos. Googles Photo app refuses to work unless it gets access to all photos.

I think it's a good design decision that just lacks control during the app review process.

There are apps that need full access to your photo gallery to be really useful (i.e. where limited pool of photos may have little sense in those contexts), photo deduplication apps being a case on point. At least that piece of information gives the app a chance to tell the user that it may not work as expected.

Now, if an app misbehaves based on photo sharing permissions (i.e. Google Photos not being able to work), that is a decision that the product team took. They're the ones responsible and that should be judged.

If anything there should be tighter controls during the app review process on how those apps use that info and avoid the ones that only work when sharing the full gallery.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#123

Post by 55555 »

AlexandrB wrote: post #88
thomasahle wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's just that innovation on the desktop side died years ago.

You say that, but Microsoft is only a few years away from integrating Bonzi Buddy into Windows 11 and Edge. For the benefit of the user, of course! /s

I miss bonzi buddy

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#124

Post by 55555 »

hedora wrote: post #100
morkalork wrote: post #66

Didn't google flat out ban pay-day loan businesses from buying ads on Google search? Why would they even let them in the app store.

The top google three hits for: pay day loan mountain view are labeled “sponsored” and look sketchy to me.

>> pay day loan mountain view

This might be the first time anyone has ever Googled that.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#125

Post by saagarjha »

flangola7 wrote: post #43
HeavyFeather wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With that logic you really shouldn't use your computer.

Running arbitrary and proprietary code without being able to review it first was always a mistake but we crossed that bridge over twenty years ago. Every OS and chip manufacturer is working towards "secure core" architectures now. Executed code will run inside OS and silicon-level sandboxes. Memory spaces will not only be randomized, but encrypted and authenticated through dedicated secure enclaves. Hardened IOMMU mo…

I wish you’re right but I don’t see how what you’ve mentioned stops most malware.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#126

Post by saagarjha »

prepend wrote: post #116
whitemary wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You could offer me $1000 cash and I wouldn’t do it. You may not need $1000, but some people literally do.

And those people should avoid scammy apps that require their bank credentials.

What should they do instead?

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#128

Post by KORraN »

charrondev wrote: post #62
hakre wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Additionally there should be a sandbox mode. While you give the app access to Photos and Contacts, it's an actual sandbox not containing any photo nor any contact. So the app gets what it asks for (the permission) while the user can still control the data.

This is how photos access on iOS works. An app can ask for access to photos and you can choose 3 options: - no photos - only specific photos (the system picker will appear to select them) - all photos

I'm not sure, if it works as advertised. I've been playing with one of the apps and despite selecting "No photos" option, I was still able to upload photos from my gallery. Perhaps some metadata is not shared in this case, but photos definitely were accessible.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#129

Post by ShamelessC »

patch_cable wrote: post #103
charrondev wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is how photos access on iOS works. An app can ask for access to photos and you can choose 3 options: - no photos - only specific photos (the system picker will appear to select them) - all photos

Regretfully, it seems on iOS apps can tell they’ve been given access to only specific photos. Googles Photo app refuses to work unless it gets access to all photos.

What is regretful about that?

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#130

Post by Closi »

HWR_14 wrote: post #56
FormerBandmate wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These apps are literally just friendlier payday lenders. They will also go under soon because the unfriendliness of payday lenders is essential to the business model and it doesn't scale well. Dave's delinquencies are probably atrocious

Why would the unfriendlessness of payday lenders be essential to the business model?

> Why would the unfriendlessness of payday lenders be essential to the business model?

The amount is small, the lending is short term, and customer acquisition costs can be fairly high. This means that the fees / interest must inevitably be quite high - i.e. if you are genuinely lending out $250 for 30 days and you only want to make $25 margin then the effective APR is >120%.

Then you are generally giving these loans to people who are in (at least short-term) financial difficulty, who often have other debt obligations which may be higher-priority (e.g. they need to pay their mortgage).

You can't have a business that just gives away money though, so you need your money back. And you are going to be incurring costs to recover the money at this stage. Plus at this stage the customer might have gained interest charges and is in a worse financial situation than when they started. So what's the 'friendly' option here? Ultimately you will need to send some unfriendly letters that say "You need to pay up, and if you don't then we will send in some people to recover goods from your house".

I guess it depends what you mean as unfriendly, but sending around recovery agents is never friendly.

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