Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

201–210 of 363 posts

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#201

Post by jancsika »

post_break wrote: post #17
bredren wrote: post #9

Clubhouse requires contact list in order to get invites, which are required to sign up right now. I get why they are doing this, and it caused me to share my contacts with them. However, I resented it and it put me immediately in a defensive posture with the product and company. There is no possible way to trust a company with your contact list and Apple should make it how Photos works now--where you can select which…

I mean this is why they do it. You knew it was wrong, you knew they were going to take that data and mine it, and you still said sure.

Are you writing that to emphasize the urgency for the government to pass legislation to reign in unregulated online casinos as they continue refining their dark patterns? (I.e., without legislation, these companies will continue finding more and more sophisticated ways to get the user to act against their own interest.)

Or do you mean imply that a practical approach to reign in unregulated online casinos is to spread the message of, "Just Say No," in web forum comments to the ostensible addicts?

Or to be fair, something else entirely? My point is I can't tell without context there whether you are sympathizing with the user ("ah yes, something needs to be done because they've found your weak spot"), or chastising them for not having the force of will to resist dark patterns.

Edit: clarification

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#202

Post by the_local_host »

carmen_sandiego wrote: post #91
aboringusername wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I suppose most people are not really traumatised by merely seeing someone's name I mean there are cases where that can be devastating . "Ohai here's your old abusive ex, here's a chat box just for good measure, good luck!". There are people who I'd never ever want to be within a textbox and tap away from accessing me, for any reason, period. You can get restraining orders in the physical world, the digital worl…

Well, a couple of things: (a) You can't take seeing their name, but you keep them in your contacts? Don't you occasionally scroll past it with a call button right there, which is just as easy to hit and put you in touch with them? How is this any different? Seems a bit silly. (b) As far as I know, research suggests hyper-avoidance is not a good way to resolve trauma. So I'm not convinced by the idea that this is harm…

Even if you don't keep them in your contacts, the connection tracking can be problematic if they keep you in their contacts.

"But what if you didn’t give Clubhouse access to your contacts, specifically because you didn’t want all or any of them to know you were there? I regret to inform you that Clubhouse has made it possible for them to know anyway, encourages them to follow you, and there isn’t much you can do about it... I got followers who weren’t in my contacts at all — but I was in theirs."

https://www.vox.com/recode/22278601/clubhouse-invite-privacy...

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#203

Post by forgotmypw17 »

skinnymuch wrote: post #196
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are quite a few that have not done it. I don't think it's necessary for success at all. HN seems to be doing pretty well, and it's never done this sort of thing, as far as I know. Reddit never did it during their growth phase, instead they provided their own seed content. Metafilter has never done anything unethical to my knowledge. There are many, many successful social networks which have not performed unethi…

Clubhouse raised money at a billion dollar valuation. Hacker News specifically and Metafilter aren’t in the same stratosphere

What are you trying to say?

That because they have a lot of VC money riding on it, they have to do "growth hacking" in order to justify the funds and grow quickly enough to satisfy the investors?

Well, I guess I have to agree.

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#204

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

throwawei369 wrote: post #182
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

agreed. Id like to see a source or reference for this.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/03/4000-...

But the app in the original article doesn't even work on Android. It is an ios app. The link you provide is about android, right? (Still concerning , however)

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#205

Post by adsharma »

tanelpoder wrote: post #27
adsharma wrote: post #11

I wonder if people have thought about another variant of this. An app that maintains two address books and switches between them based on context.

Or just some form of "share only these contacts with app X" option at the device system/OS level.

Given the tracking cookie situation, apps could refuse to install if that option is turned on. They can easily detect if they see a small number of contacts relative to average.

With the two address book solution, they should have no way of telling which one is the real address book.

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#206

Post by lupire »

skinnymuch wrote: post #196
forgotmypw17 wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are quite a few that have not done it. I don't think it's necessary for success at all. HN seems to be doing pretty well, and it's never done this sort of thing, as far as I know. Reddit never did it during their growth phase, instead they provided their own seed content. Metafilter has never done anything unethical to my knowledge. There are many, many successful social networks which have not performed unethi…

Clubhouse raised money at a billion dollar valuation. Hacker News specifically and Metafilter aren’t in the same stratosphere

But still, why do they need to steal your addressbook? They can offer you to spam your contacts without demanding. Is the profit contingent on selling the address book data? To the point where they won't let you invite more people (help them grow!) without it?

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#207

Post by lupire »

pizza wrote: post #175
csommers wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They create ghost profiles for those contacts, just in case that user ever signs up. That’s fucking garbage and they should be ashamed of doing that, let alone immediately removed from the App Store.

This seems like the shady type of thing lawmakers should pass laws against

It's the sort of thing Apple should ban to protect its claim that it is more private than Android.

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#208

Post by lupire »

bredren wrote: post #198
pizza wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like the shady type of thing lawmakers should pass laws against

I see this as a key problem of our times. Social convention used to have a stronger impact on behavior. Now it isn't enough for behavior to be disdained, it must be flagrantly illegal.

When was the time when social convention had a stronger impact?

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#209

Post by lupire »

satya71 wrote: post #155
bredren wrote: post #9

Clubhouse requires contact list in order to get invites, which are required to sign up right now. I get why they are doing this, and it caused me to share my contacts with them. However, I resented it and it put me immediately in a defensive posture with the product and company. There is no possible way to trust a company with your contact list and Apple should make it how Photos works now--where you can select which…

Here's how to get around Clubhouse uploading contacts. We shouldn't have to do this, but here we are. 1. Disable contacts for all your configured accounts 2. Add a dummy Gmail account, enable contacts. 3. Add invitee to dummy account 4. Give contacts access to Clubhouse 5. Send invite 6. Remove contact access 7. enable contacts disabled in 1

0. Don't use Clubhouse because it adds no value?

Re: Fake_contacts: Android app to create fake phone contacts, to do data-poisoning

#210

Post by IG_Semmelweiss »

Haemm0r wrote: post #101
woadwarrior01 wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an old iPhone with an empty address book for testing dodgy apps that require contacts access, I use that for sending Clubhouse invites. OTOH, Clubhouse seem work fine on my primary phone, where I haven't given it contacts access.

For Android I can recommend "Shelter"[1] which lets you setup a work profile, so you dont have to share your contacts, files, etc.. Downside: If you have already a work profile, it does not work (Android allows only one work profile) [1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/net.typeblog.shelter/

nice find.

is there a list of known existing "big brother" apps ? or is it just as good to look at app permissions to figure this out ?

Post reply on HN