Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf] • Hacker News Board

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#41

Post by chuckee » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:11 PM UTC

johnthuss wrote: post #36

I don't think this is news to anyone (in general), but it is increasingly becoming the differentiating factor between Android and iOS. Apple is all-in on customer privacy and Google hasn't really been able to respond on that front since their business model depends on targeted advertising based on data collected about their users. The question is whether regular people really care about privacy more than they do abou…

> The question is whether regular people really care about privacy more than they do about the price of a phone. And so far it seems that the lower priced phones are winning.

To find that out, the privacy intrusions would have to be advertised as prominently as the price.

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#42

Post by sumtechguy » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:11 PM UTC

eldaisfish wrote: post #37

2Gkashmiri wrote: post #35

can i see this "exfiltration" out of an android using a pi-hole? i have multiple androids at home and a etwork wide pi-hole so i would love to see if there is something i can see and maybe block

any DNS-based tool is going to tell you which IP address is being contacted, not what is sent or how much. You can certainly block domains and that will prevent some google telemetry but a DNS-based tool is not what you're looking for.

Has anyone played with adding a cert and using a squid proxy to help log what is going on?

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#43

Post by Tenoke » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:14 PM UTC

johnthuss wrote: post #36

I don't think this is news to anyone (in general), but it is increasingly becoming the differentiating factor between Android and iOS. Apple is all-in on customer privacy and Google hasn't really been able to respond on that front since their business model depends on targeted advertising based on data collected about their users. The question is whether regular people really care about privacy more than they do abou…

Price and privacy are hardly the only differentiating factors between the two. And even if they were, those who care most about privacy have more options on Android at the extreme end.

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#44

Post by elevaet » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:14 PM UTC

I use Android because of the walled-garden approach to data that Apple tries to funnel its users into. The privacy issues give me pause however.

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#45

Post by a_imho » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:16 PM UTC

johnthuss wrote: post #36

I don't think this is news to anyone (in general), but it is increasingly becoming the differentiating factor between Android and iOS. Apple is all-in on customer privacy and Google hasn't really been able to respond on that front since their business model depends on targeted advertising based on data collected about their users. The question is whether regular people really care about privacy more than they do abou…

Wasn't CSAM the hot topic just a couple of weeks ago?

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#46

Post by hellisothers » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:20 PM UTC

And yet we have articles that say iOS is similar if not worse and people pile in to “both sides” it (1). Why is it I feel it’s clear that fundamentally iOS favors privacy (for profit) and Android eschews it (for profit) yet it’s somehow debatable still?

(1) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28819318

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#47

Post by BiteCode_dev » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

johnthuss wrote: post #36

I don't think this is news to anyone (in general), but it is increasingly becoming the differentiating factor between Android and iOS. Apple is all-in on customer privacy and Google hasn't really been able to respond on that front since their business model depends on targeted advertising based on data collected about their users. The question is whether regular people really care about privacy more than they do abou…

Apple is just better at pretending being all in.

They were part of PRISM.

They recently added a systematic scan, compare and report routine to all your pictures.

They forces you to tie your phone to an Apple account just to use it. My android phone doesn't have an account, or even an email linked to it.

Apple now has an entire mesh network of BT devices constantly looking up each others, even if some of them are not connected to internet.

The microphone on the Apple device is always on, to answer to hey siri.

Finally, you can't install a real alternative browser on iOS, so no real privacy addons.

They make big claims about privacy nobody can check because everything is closed source. So you have to just trust them.

"But apple doesn't have an ad business"

Oh but they do. And they don't have to play by their own rules in the app store, and have the right to track users, gather device informations, location, etc. Fun thing is, they start the list of information they collect (https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/apple-advertisin...) by stating "Apple-delivered advertising helps people discover apps, products, and services while respecting user privacy".

I don't think they are any better, just different. And better at PR.

Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]

#48

Post by dr_kiszonka » Tue, Oct 12, 2021, 3:23 PM UTC

Arnt wrote: post #33

jand wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> System apps on several handsets upload details of user interactions with the apps on the handset (what apps are used and when, what app screens are viewed, when and for how long). I am too far away from Android development to make any claim about what "app screens" are. Is that android-lingo? Could someone please clarify?

Sounds like an attempt at phrasing for the general public. Android apps have zero or more activities, each of which may be thought of as a single screen and a single Intent, which is a bit like a URL (and sometimes very much like a URL). A messenger or email app will typically have a main activity, an activity to view a single message, an activity to view a conversation with someone, perhaps an activity to view a sin…

Exactly right. And you don't have to be a system app to access this information. Any app with sufficient permissions granted explicitly by a user can access these data (no root needed), and it may have legitimate reasons for doing it.