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Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

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Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#371

Post by hackmiester »

ryandrake wrote: post #250
grishka wrote: post #43

I really wish mobile OSes would allow you to grant apps permissions but serve fake data, (that's important!) without giving the app the ability to tell the difference. Just so it appears to the app that you've given the permission, when you in fact have not. This would solve this entire class of problems and then some. So, for example: - App "has" access to contacts, but the system returns that you have none. - App "…

Apple solved this pretty well I thought. The developer guidelines say that you cannot require a permission as a condition of using an app. If the user says no, you must gracefully degrade. You can’t exit(0) or put up an undismissable screen until you get the permission. Apps that violate this are supposed to get kicked out of the store.

That’s not quite the full story. If your app absolutely must have the permission to operate, then it can be exempted from this requirement. I imagine “absolutely must” is up to interpretation.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#372

Post by 8fingerlouie »

hackmiester wrote: post #371
ryandrake wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apple solved this pretty well I thought. The developer guidelines say that you cannot require a permission as a condition of using an app. If the user says no, you must gracefully degrade. You can’t exit(0) or put up an undismissable screen until you get the permission. Apps that violate this are supposed to get kicked out of the store.

That’s not quite the full story. If your app absolutely must have the permission to operate, then it can be exempted from this requirement. I imagine “absolutely must” is up to interpretation.

> I imagine “absolutely must” is up to interpretation.

There is no way for app developers to "force" additional privileges.

They still can't exit(0), but for instance a GPS tracking app (navigation, running, whatever) that isn't allowed access to the GPS can't very well function without GPS access, so in that case your app is allowed to fail.

They cannot be excempted from asking for, and abiding by the users decision, but they can be excempted for not working "as advertised" should the user not provide the needed capabilities.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#373

Post by avh02 »

beshrkayali wrote: post #285
avh02 wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did the same some months ago - just a heads up that it's not without it's rough edges, but definitely does a near-enough-to-what-i-want job. I've noticed a few unsynced images and am currently struggling to get the android app to stop trying to sync a gigantic folder.

I was using the docker image with my own ansible/nginx setup before but I found that maintaining required a little more attention that I'd like to give it, so I decided to give the snap package a go. One nice thing is that it self-updates automatically. What sort of issues did you encounter?

Server side's actually okay, I think the android app has a number of bugs. For example I tried to set a folder with several thousand pieces of media and a few other files to auto upload and it'd keep triggering "nextcloud is not responding" pop-ups on my phone. It's ~6 gigs but didn't complete for two painful days. It was almost impossible to open the app cos it's intensely trying to sync that folder.

I thought I managed to cancel it yesterday and remove the folder from auto uploads but today it's trying to upload the contents of that folder again even though I can't find it in my auto upload setup.

I've also felt it misses instant uploads once in a while but never investigated to prove that or the circumstances so take that with a grain of salt

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#374

Post by sobani »

wlesieutre wrote: post #190
ceejayoz wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody but Dropbox and anyone with the Dropbox app on their phone . It has to get from the user's phone to Dropbox, which means it's on the user's phone at some point, barring some sort of convoluted user --> Apple --> Dropbox transfer scheme.

Right, the Dropbox app on their phone is asking the OS for contact info, which the phone generates and provides to the Dropbox app and only the Dropbox app. Any other app would get a different fake address. Or are you talking about the scenario where competitor apps use some kind of sandbox escape to jump out and steal other apps' trap addresses from the OS?

I figure that's what @ceejayoz is talking about. This probably won't happen between 'mom and pop' apps, but maybe a failing SV unicorn might become desperate enough to pay $1MM, or however much a blackhat will ask for this service, to trash their main competitor.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#375

Post by princetman »

dylan604 wrote: post #247
princetman wrote: post #220

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the sentiment for live performance, but in your own home, I can not relate to this. Vast majority of people in credits are doing a job and getting paid for it, just like any other profession or trade. We don't pay "respect" to delivery drivers, or to designers and engineers who brings us our gadgets and services in same way. Why should I spend my time and attention on credit rolls? It's not like anyone noticing…

You don't tip? Tips are showing your respect for deliveries. Also, most gadgets I've seen have a screen that can be viewed with credits in them, as well as most software. Video games have credits too. Books have credits too, right there on the cover and is probably what grabs your attention more than the title.

No, I hardly ever tip my delivery drivers. Tip is not expected for normal service here, unlike USA. If someone goes above and beyond, you can tip but there is no obligation. We have minimum wage system and most in my area are paid above that.

Most popular gadgets with screens, smartphones, doesn’t have credits, not the most popular apps on App Store apart from couple of words “From Facebook”, “By Google” etc. It’s not considered “incredibly disrespectful” to not read credits in apps or acknowledgments in books that have it listed. It’s a personal preference to read or skip them. I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#376

Post by Tepix »

Tepix wrote: post #147
malka wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the opposite. 'only Google and Facebook Auth ? Can't create account ? Bye.'

It vastly increases the tracking that FB and Google can do. Bad idea. Also, knowing Google, perhaps they one day decide to discount the oauth login feature?

not discount, discontinue of course

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#377

Post by 3guk »

Terretta wrote: post #224
retox wrote: post #180

I was told a story about the Dropbox sales team a while back that swore me off using them. They contacted the company I worked at, that didn't have a business contract with Dropbox, offering a great deal and a meeting was quickly arranged. The meeting (which I only heard about secondhand from a good friend) quickly turned into a strong-arm operation. Dropbox had 'detected' that employees at our company were using Dro…

The best answer to this tactic is, “Nice Dropbox you have there. Shame if OneDrive were to happen to it.” The O365 integration with OneDrive is so seamless relative to other options, employees won’t even complain after an initial learning curve. In fact, many will start subscribing to O365 on iOS etc. and start having access to the same content synced across Windows, MacOS, iOS, Xbox, etc. At this point, with employe…

Yes the O365 integration is relatively seamless and we were forced to move from Dropbox to Onedrive after our IT guys consolidated all of our subscriptions.

But damn, the OneDrive client at least on my MacBook is complete garbage, it seems like basic features compared to the Dropbox Client are completely missing, and OneDrive regularly likes to randomly use so much CPU that the fans spin up.

Given how heavily OneDrive is targeted towards businesses and offices, you'd think that LAN syncing would have been one of the first features to include....

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#378

Post by lrem »

rhino369 wrote: post #324
tartoran wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think all creators should have a pirates donations box so pirated content doesn’t impact the creators that much.

Nothing is really stopping you from paying for the content and pirating it to get the quality you want. But lets be honest, essentially all pirates just want the content for free.

Meh? A couple years back, I bought myself a box set of a season of Doctor Who. A taxpayer-funded series. It refused to play on any of my devices, because they were not to the DRM's liking. Torrenting took a fraction of the time I spent trying to debug why I can't watch the content I have actually paid for.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#379

Post by jasomill »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #315
sundvor wrote: post #290

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does watching hq torrents of content I have legal access to count? :) My 960 GPU in the htpc doesn't quite have the bit depth that Netflix wants, therefore it disables 4k entirely. Bought the GPU at the time as it was the first with hardware HECV, has zero issues playing back a 4k encoding by someone else..

Wait, can you not play SDR 4K on Netflix? What happens if you play the first season of Stranger Things, which was produced in 4K but not in HDR?

SDR? Sure. But unless something has changed recently, 4K Netflix on PC requires a particular flavor of Windows DRM that is only supported by NVIDIA GPUs starting with Pascal and Intel integrated graphics starting with Kaby Lake‡.

On a more technical related note, I'd imagine 4K SDR variants of all Netflix HDR productions are generated on the back-end as an output of the same post-production process used to produce SDR prints at lower resolutions for reasons of both creative control an delivery efficiency; HEVC is just a compression algorithm, after all, and mostly orthogonal to matters of colorspace conversion and tone mapping.

See, e.g.,

https://partnerhelp.netflixstudios.com/hc/en-us/articles/360...

and observe that the example Dolby Vision workflow yields three distinct masters,

1. Dolby Vision (HDR + SDR tone mapping metadata)

2. SDR (generated automatically from the Dolby Vision source)

3. DCI-P3 (for potential theatrical exhibition)

I therefore assume the requirements for 4K SDR playback of SDR and HDR titles are identical.

‡ If and only if said Kaby Lake iGPU is connected to a video output.

I mention this because I can only watch 4K Netflix on my Hades Canyon NUC with the help of a Pascal eGPU, because, while the Kaby Lake iGPU is present and fully functional, all video outputs connect to the NUC's discrete AMD Polaris GPU, which Netflix doesn't support.

DRM sucks.

Re: Tell HN: Dropbox now requires access to contacts for Google login

#380

Post by matheusmoreira »

rhino369 wrote: post #323
matheusmoreira wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, piracy is almost always the better service. How the hell can a bunch of enthusiasts come up with a better service than multi-billion dollar companies? They seriously need to stop and rethink their industry. When I use my Netflix I get a horribly compressed "high definition" picture, annoying autoplaying ads for shows I don't care about and a constantly decreasing amount of content. Piracy offers the opposite of…

First, I dispute that piracy is really better. Amazon and netflix generally work easier than piracy. My, um friend, has radarr + usenet + plex, and its work pretty well 80%. But subtitles are often a problem. Unpacking/par checking sometimes takes forever. Sometimes the decoder in plex doesn't really work. Sometimes the movie has been DMCA'd off the use net servers. Private trackers involve sucking up to to 15 year o…

When I said piracy was the better service, what I meant is it offered much higher quality, not that it was easier to use. Piracy actually takes a ton of work. Of course paying for a streaming subscription is the easiest solution: people just pay and enjoy what it offers. The problem is the fact they consistently offer the lowest quality product.

1. Horrible video compression to save bandwidth

When they offer users high definition content, they're actually talking about the resolution of the image. The quality and detail of the image will almost always be much worse if compared to another source such as Blu-Rays. Netflix somehow manages to add compression artifacts to nearly 100% black frames. Scenes with a lot of movement are actually painful to watch.

Compare that to the obssessive attention to detail you can often find in piracy communities and the winner is obvious.

2. Censorship

These services aren't afraid to cut content in order to broaden their audiences. They may even be required to do it by law. Pirates obviously don't have these problems.

3. Annoying copyright issues nobody cares about

Netflix once had Terminator 1 and 3 but not 2, as well as Spider Man 1 and 3 but not 2. Was the license for these movies too expensive for them? Who knows? Who cares?

Want to watch a classic film? An influential film? Chances are it's not on Netflix. Where is it then? Who knows... Maybe not actually available at all anywhere no matter where you look.

Piracy just ignores these issues. As a result it gives you access to almost everything humanity has ever created.

4. DRM

Netflix won't give you access to their precious 4k+ streams if it feels your device isn't locked down enough. Disney is even more aggressive with these measures. Even on my perfectly locked down PS4 system it won't let me download content ahead of time. Apparently they think network connections are reliable.

Pirates simply don't have these problems.

5. Superior technology

Netflix's video player is garbage compared to mpv. The video players of every other streaming service manage to be even worse. It's not just the basic-ness of it either: sometimes it stutters and falls out of sync with the audio, sometimes it screws up the rendering of subtitles...

The one area where streaming service technology wins is their ability to offer alternate audio streams.

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