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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

#21

Post by ggm »

gameswithgo wrote: post #7

the locked in store model has completely failed. both for ios and android it is a terrible experience compared to PC. you are stuck with only the search tools the hardware maker gives you, often designed in a user hostile way (ios brings up ads) and no way to bail out to a different store. as well the monoculture leads to a race to the bottom with garbage programs shoving their way to the top via misleading a dishone…

I feel the problem is the complexity of permissions models. Rather than expose many fine-grained permissions, apps ask for wide ranging permissions. Good apps and Bad apps. because the good apps are written naievely from days past and didn't know there is now a specific APP_PERMISSION_THIS_THING rather than 'all files'

Because even good apps ask for all things, It cannot be used as a filter to determin bad apps.

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

#22

Post by duskwuff »

gameswithgo wrote: post #7

the locked in store model has completely failed. both for ios and android it is a terrible experience compared to PC. you are stuck with only the search tools the hardware maker gives you, often designed in a user hostile way (ios brings up ads) and no way to bail out to a different store. as well the monoculture leads to a race to the bottom with garbage programs shoving their way to the top via misleading a dishone…

How does this follow from the article? Sure, a walled garden isn't a perfect model. But opening it up further would make abuse, like the behaviors described in the article, even easier for developers to execute, and harder for anyone to stop.

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

#23

Post by thekyle »

gameswithgo wrote: post #7

the locked in store model has completely failed. both for ios and android it is a terrible experience compared to PC. you are stuck with only the search tools the hardware maker gives you, often designed in a user hostile way (ios brings up ads) and no way to bail out to a different store. as well the monoculture leads to a race to the bottom with garbage programs shoving their way to the top via misleading a dishone…

> i want no part of it. when a phone maker comes to the market without this locked down model i will buy it, and if windows goes this route i will drop it for linux.

> and yea i know you can sideload on android, but the unwashed masses don’t know that so it doesn’t matter.

I don't totally understand what you want. You say you want a phone (presumably OS?) that does not require an app store then totally dismiss a very popular operating system that has exactly that feature. Who cares if a large segment of Android users don't side load apps, that does nothing to prevent you from doing it.

I've been using Android without Google Play services for a few months and everything works fine. My bank apps work, the few social media apps I use work, WhatsApp/Signal work, Bing/Cortana work, I could go on but I think you get the idea. Most of my apps have been side loaded (or downloaded via F-Droid).

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

#24

Post by doublepg23 »

It's amazing how poor the filtering is. There are plenty of developer horror stories of legitimate apps being taken down by some broken, automated process - sometimes taking peoples' entire Google accounts with them. Then you're stuck dealing with more automated systems for support.

Of course these garbage apps make it through somehow. My favorite is an SNES emulator that's full of ROMs. Clearly a copyright violation, but somehow made it through state-of-the-art AI...

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

#25

Post by dzdt »

thekyle wrote: post #23
gameswithgo wrote: post #7

the locked in store model has completely failed. both for ios and android it is a terrible experience compared to PC. you are stuck with only the search tools the hardware maker gives you, often designed in a user hostile way (ios brings up ads) and no way to bail out to a different store. as well the monoculture leads to a race to the bottom with garbage programs shoving their way to the top via misleading a dishone…

> i want no part of it. when a phone maker comes to the market without this locked down model i will buy it, and if windows goes this route i will drop it for linux. > and yea i know you can sideload on android, but the unwashed masses don’t know that so it doesn’t matter. I don't totally understand what you want. You say you want a phone (presumably OS?) that does not require an app store then totally dismiss a very…

So if google's app store is so bad (and I tend to agree it isn't great) what is preventing the rise of a better alternative app store? They exist, but as far as I can tell none have gained any traction.

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

#26

Post by pravda »

thekyle wrote: post #23
gameswithgo wrote: post #7

the locked in store model has completely failed. both for ios and android it is a terrible experience compared to PC. you are stuck with only the search tools the hardware maker gives you, often designed in a user hostile way (ios brings up ads) and no way to bail out to a different store. as well the monoculture leads to a race to the bottom with garbage programs shoving their way to the top via misleading a dishone…

> i want no part of it. when a phone maker comes to the market without this locked down model i will buy it, and if windows goes this route i will drop it for linux. > and yea i know you can sideload on android, but the unwashed masses don’t know that so it doesn’t matter. I don't totally understand what you want. You say you want a phone (presumably OS?) that does not require an app store then totally dismiss a very…

>I've been using Android without Google Play services for a few months and everything works fine.

What about maps? or Waze? Gmail?

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

#27

Post by thekyle »

dzdt wrote: post #25
thekyle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i want no part of it. when a phone maker comes to the market without this locked down model i will buy it, and if windows goes this route i will drop it for linux. > and yea i know you can sideload on android, but the unwashed masses don’t know that so it doesn’t matter. I don't totally understand what you want. You say you want a phone (presumably OS?) that does not require an app store then totally dismiss a very…

So if google's app store is so bad (and I tend to agree it isn't great) what is preventing the rise of a better alternative app store? They exist, but as far as I can tell none have gained any traction.

Well I'd say Google Play's dominance is mostly because it is default. Additionally, there is a natural vendor lock-in as you begin buying apps since your purchases won't be available on other app stores.

There are other apps stores that have become relatively popular when pre-installed such as Amazon's and the various Chinese app stores.

https://www.appinchina.co/market/app-stores/

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

#28

Post by thekyle »

pravda wrote: post #26
thekyle wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i want no part of it. when a phone maker comes to the market without this locked down model i will buy it, and if windows goes this route i will drop it for linux. > and yea i know you can sideload on android, but the unwashed masses don’t know that so it doesn’t matter. I don't totally understand what you want. You say you want a phone (presumably OS?) that does not require an app store then totally dismiss a very…

>I've been using Android without Google Play services for a few months and everything works fine. What about maps? or Waze? Gmail?

I use the Google Maps PWA and never really used Waze to begin with. For email, I just use the stock Android email app which looks and acts very similar to the old Gmail app before the recent redesign.

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

#29

Post by umeshunni »

shittyadmin wrote: post #6
qmanjamz wrote: post #5

> Google confirmed it found fake ad clicking on all 6 apps, and said ad fraud was against Play store policy. So why aren't you removing the apps, I asked. They said they banned them from ad products and were still investigating. Really? Finally, not long ago, Google removed them. What's wrong with this guy? Does he not understand what investigating means? God forbid Google actually investigates claims of malfeasance.

BuzzFeed News is a trash rag, what are you expecting?

And there are two articles from Buzzfeed in the front page right now. I think someone at Buzzfeed has figured out how to game HN.

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

#30

Post by [deleted] »

doublepg23 wrote: post #24

It's amazing how poor the filtering is. There are plenty of developer horror stories of legitimate apps being taken down by some broken, automated process - sometimes taking peoples' entire Google accounts with them. Then you're stuck dealing with more automated systems for support. Of course these garbage apps make it through somehow. My favorite is an SNES emulator that's full of ROMs. Clearly a copyright violation…

[deleted]
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