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Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

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Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#141

Post by OoooooooO »

blantonl wrote: post #129

One of the things that is really troubling about the Google Android Play store is the ease that an app developer can develop an app and remain totally anonymous unless you are forced to file a lawsuit or subpoena to Google to reveal information. I own and operate a fairly popular audio streaming platform, and I've had to deal with numerous instances of unscrupulous app developers who steal API keys from our licensed…

Maybe automate an API key change every X hours to limit the time those apps can grab traffic?

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#142

Post by ceejayoz »

glenneroo wrote: post #136
HenryBemis wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep sounding like a broken record. This is not for your "average user" but I use two methods to block all data transmissions for applications that doesn't make sense to have internet connections (e.g. a selfie app): a) The device's App-Data settings. I keep most boxes unchecked. I don't understand why CamScanner (legit super useful app) needs internet connection when I just email myself all the scans, and not usin…

I know the selfie app was just an example, but what's the point of a selfie app if you can't share the selfies? Also you are assuming people have due diligence to actually care or understand which permissions an app is requesting and to actually stop long enough to consider the implications. Consider that most of the world is technologically illiterate, and pop-ups will probably at most be a very mild annoyance for e…

You can share the selfies with the built-in texting/emailing/social media intents. The app itself doesn't need the networking.

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#143

Post by blantonl »

lima wrote: post #137
076ae80a-3c97-4 wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time to cycle API keys?

App update cycles are slow so this would break old versions of his apps.

That, and they can steal the new API keys just as fast as we rotate them. And since these API keys are licensed to third-party developers we've got to manage business impact for that third-party.

The problem is Google has no incentive to address these issues, because they prioritize their own platform growth revenue over user and partner experience.

With all the frustration one can have with the Apple App Store, including huge wait times for new releases, arbitrary reasonings for declining apps etc, it's almost worth it vs the wild-west of the Google Play Store.

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#144

Post by def_true_false »

blantonl wrote: post #129

One of the things that is really troubling about the Google Android Play store is the ease that an app developer can develop an app and remain totally anonymous unless you are forced to file a lawsuit or subpoena to Google to reveal information. I own and operate a fairly popular audio streaming platform, and I've had to deal with numerous instances of unscrupulous app developers who steal API keys from our licensed…

> These apps steal tens of thousands of dollars of ad revenue from my business monthly

Avoiding ads is not stealing. Neither is wrapping someone else's content in ads.

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#145

Post by Walf »

>“If an app violates our policies, we take action

Bullshit, Google. Bullshit. Only a very small proportion of the apps on Play ask only for the permissions that are needed to perform their task, and Internet access is not a deniable permission, leaving a nice little back door for them to siphon off your data. The example of the flashlight app is not an edge case, it's the norm. Google does not care because they'd rather earn more ad revenue than have quality apps, and the number of apps with the ability to seriously spy on you is staggering.

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#146

Post by fghtr »

fooqux wrote: post #139
DarwinMailApp wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I actually can't believe this. How in the name of all the is holy are we letting them get away with this. Sure, we talk about the problem a lot. But we need to take action. It seems every big corporation are abusing the trust we give them in some form or another. Please, for the love of God, can anybody prove me wrong. Are there any companies than don't abuse our trust?

Abuse your trust? The better question is why are you trusting them in the first place? If you actually read the TOS of a service, you'd know that they are usually quite forthright with what they are going to do. If a murderer knocks on your door, informs you that if you let them in they're going to brutally murder you, but you choose to ignore that because they brought you free stuff, you don't get to complain about…

>you don't get to complain about being murdered later

Actually, you do; murder is illegal even if you were informed in advance. The same should be with the ad industry. See GDPR.

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#147

Post by tty2300 »

stephenr wrote: post #68
tty2300 wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Web apps can't use GPS like an app can

Im generally not a fan of web apps but this is incorrect. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation

I should have been more specific but my app needs to record GPS with the screen off and with the app not focused which web apps can't do.

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#148

Post by saiya-jin »

def_true_false wrote: post #144
blantonl wrote: post #129

One of the things that is really troubling about the Google Android Play store is the ease that an app developer can develop an app and remain totally anonymous unless you are forced to file a lawsuit or subpoena to Google to reveal information. I own and operate a fairly popular audio streaming platform, and I've had to deal with numerous instances of unscrupulous app developers who steal API keys from our licensed…

> These apps steal tens of thousands of dollars of ad revenue from my business monthly Avoiding ads is not stealing. Neither is wrapping someone else's content in ads.

> Neither is wrapping someone else's content in ads.

What the hell are you talking about? If I take Office 2016, create custom launcher which will just pop ads here and there, offer it to companies, I can't possibly claim this as legal business anywhere where copyright law can be upheld

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#149

Post by floatingatoll »

michaelt wrote: post #113
gloflo wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Geofencing is just conditionally acting depending on a location. All you need for it is a location.

If we want to show users permission dialogs and that let them make good decisions, there's a need for finer grain APIs to allow finer-grain permissions. For example, for a smart home app asking 'precise location constantly even when not using the app' is sufficient to perform geofencing - but asking for a more limited 'know when you arrive home' is much more likely to get user approval.

The correct time to ask for the permission is when the user attempts to set up geofencing, at which point the phone OS should present a geofence picker that stores the fence in the OS and notified the app on entry/exit. The app itself has no need to know what the geofence coordinates and radius are, so by implementing the geofence at the OS level you can optionally as app author decline to care what its coordinates are — and thus have no need to request location access at all.

Re: Popular Google Play store apps are abusing permissions and committing ad fraud

#150

Post by floatingatoll »

tty2300 wrote: post #147
stephenr wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Im generally not a fan of web apps but this is incorrect. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Geolocation

I should have been more specific but my app needs to record GPS with the screen off and with the app not focused which web apps can't do.

I don’t trust sideloaded apps with background access to both my location and the Internet, so it gives me no sadness to hear this.
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