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Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

pcmag.com

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Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#51

Post by asddubs »

supriyo-biswas wrote: post #14
josephcsible wrote: post #6

This feels like treating one particularly visible symptom of the problem instead of fixing the actual problem. What Google should do instead is prevent apps from refusing to work or disabling unrelated functionality just because some permissions are denied (e.g., if you deny your banking app permission to access your camera, everything but mobile check deposit should still have to work). They should use a two-pronged…

That approach would leave users confused as they see fake contacts or photos being surfaced through the app that was denied said permissions.

it should just present an empty list, like a newly installed phone with no pictures taken yet / no contacts added. if apps detect that and refuse to function, ban them from the app store

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#52

Post by charcircuit »

Tycho wrote: post #47

Do we really need apps? Usually when I want to use one, I've got to update it first. Better to just use websites.

Apps do not require updating to launch and they autoupdate in the background. If an app is forcing you to manually upgrade either they have poor backwards support oh your computer for some reason isn't downloading the updates.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#53

Post by SecretDreams »

iamleppert wrote: post #38

They need to ban that Dave app. I signed up because it offered a loan for $500, but when I got in the app they forced me to "connect" my checking account, sucked up all the data, then offered me only $20. With a daily notification to setup one of their "checking accounts". The app was advertised as a short-term loan with borrower-friendly terms ("give us a tip!") -- yeah right. Come to find out it's just a new accoun…

There is no universe where I'm connecting my bank account to some ghetto ass app for a seemingly too good to be true loan.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#54

Post by charcircuit »

nerdjon wrote: post #48
hadrien01 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have that feature on my tablet (Android 12L or 13), but like you I can only see when ("last 24h"), nothing else. Edit: I just checked because the screen design felt weird compared to the rest of the settings, it's controlled by Google: com.google.android.permissioncontroller (and it hides Google permission usage by default...)

Does it at least show Google’s apps? When I check the App Privacy Report on iOS I see the built in Mail, Messages, Safari and others. As well as seeing iCloud at the top of my “most contacted domains”. But under app network activity I don’t see system level processes (at least I don’t think I do). Unless it still falls under an app… like iCloud domain lists safari and find my for the related apps. Honestly I just wan…

Yes it shows Google apps. On my phone it lets you switch between last 24 hours and last 7 days. And lets you toggle whether or not system apps are included.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#55

Post by aceazzameen »

waselighis wrote: post #23
josephcsible wrote: post #6

This feels like treating one particularly visible symptom of the problem instead of fixing the actual problem. What Google should do instead is prevent apps from refusing to work or disabling unrelated functionality just because some permissions are denied (e.g., if you deny your banking app permission to access your camera, everything but mobile check deposit should still have to work). They should use a two-pronged…

> 2. Make Android present convincing fake data to apps when permissions are denied That reminds me, years ago I used to run a module called XPrivacy that does exactly this. It does require a rooted Android device though. I haven't used it for a long time, but seems it continues to live on as XPrivacyLua.

I used to use that too. It was great! I haven't run a rooted device in like 8 years though. These days I don't bother installing most apps on my devices anymore. I mainly use the phone, messaging, camera, and Firefox. And I use Netguard to block the uninstall-able apps from internet access.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#56

Post by HWR_14 »

FormerBandmate wrote: post #49
iamleppert wrote: post #38

They need to ban that Dave app. I signed up because it offered a loan for $500, but when I got in the app they forced me to "connect" my checking account, sucked up all the data, then offered me only $20. With a daily notification to setup one of their "checking accounts". The app was advertised as a short-term loan with borrower-friendly terms ("give us a tip!") -- yeah right. Come to find out it's just a new accoun…

These apps are literally just friendlier payday lenders. They will also go under soon because the unfriendliness of payday lenders is essential to the business model and it doesn't scale well. Dave's delinquencies are probably atrocious

Why would the unfriendlessness of payday lenders be essential to the business model?

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#57

Post by Tycho »

charcircuit wrote: post #52
Tycho wrote: post #47

Do we really need apps? Usually when I want to use one, I've got to update it first. Better to just use websites.

Apps do not require updating to launch and they autoupdate in the background. If an app is forcing you to manually upgrade either they have poor backwards support oh your computer for some reason isn't downloading the updates.

What if i don’t want it automatically downloading updates?

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#58

Post by Johnny555 »

Very few apps should have full contacts access. There should be a way to share a contact at a time with an app, like if I want to send an email payment through my banking app, it should call an android function to open a contact selector so I can share just that one contact. Or really, just the email address of that contact, not the rest of the data I may have associated with it.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#59

Post by Eumenes »

amluto wrote: post #22
michaelmior wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 2. Make Android present convincing fake data to apps when permissions are denied What about apps that aren't malicious? How can they tell the difference between a user who denied the permission to reasonably offer alternatives?

As a good rule of thumb, apps are malicious. If they are not, the libraries they include are. If, somehow, even the libraries aren’t malicious, the attackers who compromise the app or its backend are definitely malicious.

I have almost no apps installed on my smart phone ... I just go to the mobile website. Way easier, way more I can control. I'm literally missing nothing.

Re: Google to ban financial lending apps from accessing user photos, contacts

#60

Post by ezfe »

the_snooze wrote: post #33
HeavyFeather wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I love it, but it has two issues: - Apps can refuse to work with that, like Google Photos (it used to work during the beta and it was perfect for me) - Apps still offer their awful photo picker on top of your already-picked photos, so selecting new ones requires a lot of taps. I wish Apple would reign in some of these apps. In-app browsers and custom photo pickers should be banned unless they have demonstrated ad…

It's the same with location data. iOS allows you to restrict apps to only approximate location, but apps like YouTube TV and ESPN require precise data just to do region checking. I wish iOS just wouldn't allow apps to figure out if they're getting precise vs. approximate location.

Yeah, I had Snapchat location map enabled with imprecise locations during iOS beta, but they disabled that...like, why! just show the error bar on the map if you care.
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