Apps requesting too much permission

[barkomatic]

I only trust apps from established companies such as Google, Samsung, Facebook etc in the hopes that the permissions they request are less likely to be abused. Anything can happen thought.

However, we live in an era where Equifax was breached which released pretty much everything a thief would need to steal your identity so is there *any* security anymore? I'd stay away from apps from developers I'm not familiar with.

 

[Golfdriver97]

These I can see. The camera is used to upload card information, storage to store card information, SMS to send you a message after transaction. Contacts I don't know about. However, when adding a coloring app like PenUp, why would it need all those same things and more? Some make sense, but others are just scarey.

Lol...I think it's obvious I don't use Samsung Pay.

 

[jhimmel]

I only trust apps from established companies such as Google, Samsung, Facebook etc in the hopes that the permissions they request are less likely to be abused. Anything can happen thought.

However, we live in an era where Equifax was breached which released pretty much everything a thief would need to steal your identity so is there *any* security anymore? I'd stay away from apps from developers I'm not familiar with.

Exactly. Whenever possible, I try to deal with high profile companies that have a reputation to protect. When this is not possible, I proceed with caution , and limit permissions that do not appear necessary to the apps core function. Not making a big deal out of it though.

 

[Stealthieone]

Yeah.. I've been using apps for a long time and never once have had a concern... But has a federal employee I've had all my info stolen and now possibly because of equifax.. So I'm supposed to be concerned about penup wanting permissions? Naaa I'm not worrying about it.. If it bothers you that much maybe you need to go back to a flip phone.

 

[jhimmel]

Yeah.. I've been using apps for a long time and never once have had a concern... But has a federal employee I've had all my info stolen and now possibly because of equifax.. So I'm supposed to be concerned about penup wanting permissions? Naaa I'm not worrying about it.. If it bothers you that much maybe you need to go back to a flip phone.

Move to a flip phone because I don't want to use Pen Up? Yeah , that makes sense...lol
It doesn't bother me "that much" , I just installed something else. Pretty simple.

 

[Jon York]

Paranoia at its best... You think an app dev would open itself up to a class action law suit? Have you ever heard of anyone being taken advantage of by an app?

Ha! Boy were you ever wrong - as is proven by the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. That revolved around fb apps that asked for all kinds of permissions. People just gave them over and then suddenly a professor in England and then this marketing company had crazy detailed information about 50 million people in the U.S.!

Look, there is absolutely NO REASON why Samsung Pay needs any access to any of this stuff. They surely don't need access to your camera! You don't take pictures with Samsung Pay - you swipe it near a card reader and use it to pay for things.

And it most definitely does NOT need acces to your CONTACTS! What the hell? I'm paying with my credit card - why in the world would they need access to my contacts!?

Well, I'll tell you why... it's because it's DATA. And DATA is incredibly valuable today. Companies will pay Samsung MILLIONS of dollars for this kind of data. Big companies... and the more detailed the data, the more they'll pay for it.

And think about this... not only will they get access to all this data, but they also know where you shop, and how much you spend. That's EXTREMELY VALUABLE to them... all at the expense of your PRIVACY of course.

If we have Jimmy's email address, they'll pay for that and that's pretty valuable. If they can also somehow attach an email address to an actual physical home address - then it becomes extremely valuable. Imagine you're a marketer - this gives you the ability to EMAIL all people who live in a certain area! That's not easy information to come by. Usually they have email addresses but no idea where they are in the real world. This gives them all that data - and more!

Now imagine, you have someone's email address, you have their name, you know where they live in the real world, you know what kind of health they're in - and you know who all their friends are! You know the saying, 'birds of a feather flock together'. Well, that's exactly why they want your contact information.

If you live in a poor area and most of your friends do too, they can assume you're poor and therefore that you think like a poor person and therefore marketers who sell things to poor people will pay them a FORTUNE to get their hands on YOUR personal information!

This is a goldmine of information for marketers - and that is THE reason why Samsung requires these permissions. Because without them - they don't make MILLIONS of extra dollars - A MONTH! But with them - they do.

This information is so valuable because the more data points you have on a person - the more you can 'triangulage' and figure out more and more things about her.

I was just going to install Samsung Pay on my new Gear S3 watch. But when they started asking for these permissions, I suddenly remembered the Facebook case - and I just said NO WAY!

It's okay. I'll survive. When I need to pay - sure it would have been convenient to just flick my wrist up next to the machine. But it is surely not gonna kill me to reach into my back pocket and take my credit card out and run it through the machine. For the sake of my privacy - I'm not gonna mind doing that at all.

 

[chanchan05]

Ha! Boy were you ever wrong - as is proven by the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. That revolved around fb apps that asked for all kinds of permissions. People just gave them over and then suddenly a professor in England and then this marketing company had crazy detailed information about 50 million people in the U.S.!

Look, there is absolutely NO REASON why Samsung Pay needs any access to any of this stuff. They surely don't need access to your camera! You don't take pictures with Samsung Pay - you swipe it near a card reader and use it to pay for things.

And it most definitely does NOT need acces to your CONTACTS! What the hell? I'm paying with my credit card - why in the world would they need access to my contacts!?

Well, I'll tell you why... it's because it's DATA. And DATA is incredibly valuable today. Companies will pay Samsung MILLIONS of dollars for this kind of data. Big companies... and the more detailed the data, the more they'll pay for it.

And think about this... not only will they get access to all this data, but they also know where you shop, and how much you spend. That's EXTREMELY VALUABLE to them... all at the expense of your PRIVACY of course.

If we have Jimmy's email address, they'll pay for that and that's pretty valuable. If they can also somehow attach an email address to an actual physical home address - then it becomes extremely valuable. Imagine you're a marketer - this gives you the ability to EMAIL all people who live in a certain area! That's not easy information to come by. Usually they have email addresses but no idea where they are in the real world. This gives them all that data - and more!

Now imagine, you have someone's email address, you have their name, you know where they live in the real world, you know what kind of health they're in - and you know who all their friends are! You know the saying, 'birds of a feather flock together'. Well, that's exactly why they want your contact information.

If you live in a poor area and most of your friends do too, they can assume you're poor and therefore that you think like a poor person and therefore marketers who sell things to poor people will pay them a FORTUNE to get their hands on YOUR personal information!

This is a goldmine of information for marketers - and that is THE reason why Samsung requires these permissions. Because without them - they don't make MILLIONS of extra dollars - A MONTH! But with them - they do.

This information is so valuable because the more data points you have on a person - the more you can 'triangulage' and figure out more and more things about her.

I was just going to install Samsung Pay on my new Gear S3 watch. But when they started asking for these permissions, I suddenly remembered the Facebook case - and I just said NO WAY!

It's okay. I'll survive. When I need to pay - sure it would have been convenient to just flick my wrist up next to the machine. But it is surely not gonna kill me to reach into my back pocket and take my credit card out and run it through the machine. For the sake of my privacy - I'm not gonna mind doing that at all.

1. You don't take pictures, but it needs to open the camera when scanning a QR code to get the discounts and stuff.

2. It needs storage access because it needs to save stuff. What good is it if it forgets your credit card number right after you exit the app because it can't store stuff.

3. Sensors obviously for the iris and fingerprint scanner.

The difference between Google/Samsung and Facebook is that they keep the data to themselves. Facebook shares the data.

Google uses the data and is paid by marketers to do the data crunching themselves. The marketers don't actually see your data. The marketers give their data to Google for it too look at both you and the marketers and see if you match. Think of it as Google is Tinder and you and the marketer are looking for matches.

Samsung uses the data for themselves as they are now targetting areas beyond Google's reach: China. It's increasing it's alterative to Google services and fighting to get into the Chinese market. So far there is no true equivalent in China that provides the exact same services as Google under one brand name. Samsung is trying to be that. They're also releasing their apps for install to other branded devices. Basically a lot like Google. They even have an ad service now.

As for the Cambridge Analytica scandal, that is as much on the users themselves as Facebook. Facebook's model of selling data is what caused it, as much as people not really caring about the permissions they themselves agree to. Every single facebook quiz or whatever starts with a warning on what data the app can get. People just click OK without thinking. Sad since Facebook was once one of the companies that we thought could have been trusted with our data.

 

[monil]

Ha! Boy were you ever wrong - as is proven by the recent Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal. That revolved around fb apps that asked for all kinds of permissions. People just gave them over and then suddenly a professor in England and then this marketing company had crazy detailed information about 50 million people in the U.S.!

Look, there is absolutely NO REASON why Samsung Pay needs any access to any of this stuff. They surely don't need access to your camera! You don't take pictures with Samsung Pay - you swipe it near a card reader and use it to pay for things.

And it most definitely does NOT need acces to your CONTACTS! What the hell? I'm paying with my credit card - why in the world would they need access to my contacts!?

Well, I'll tell you why... it's because it's DATA. And DATA is incredibly valuable today. Companies will pay Samsung MILLIONS of dollars for this kind of data. Big companies... and the more detailed the data, the more they'll pay for it.

And think about this... not only will they get access to all this data, but they also know where you shop, and how much you spend. That's EXTREMELY VALUABLE to them... all at the expense of your PRIVACY of course.

If we have Jimmy's email address, they'll pay for that and that's pretty valuable. If they can also somehow attach an email address to an actual physical home address - then it becomes extremely valuable. Imagine you're a marketer - this gives you the ability to EMAIL all people who live in a certain area! That's not easy information to come by. Usually they have email addresses but no idea where they are in the real world. This gives them all that data - and more!

Now imagine, you have someone's email address, you have their name, you know where they live in the real world, you know what kind of health they're in - and you know who all their friends are! You know the saying, 'birds of a feather flock together'. Well, that's exactly why they want your contact information.

If you live in a poor area and most of your friends do too, they can assume you're poor and therefore that you think like a poor person and therefore marketers who sell things to poor people will pay them a FORTUNE to get their hands on YOUR personal information!

This is a goldmine of information for marketers - and that is THE reason why Samsung requires these permissions. Because without them - they don't make MILLIONS of extra dollars - A MONTH! But with them - they do.

This information is so valuable because the more data points you have on a person - the more you can 'triangulage' and figure out more and more things about her.

I was just going to install Samsung Pay on my new Gear S3 watch. But when they started asking for these permissions, I suddenly remembered the Facebook case - and I just said NO WAY!

It's okay. I'll survive. When I need to pay - sure it would have been convenient to just flick my wrist up next to the machine. But it is surely not gonna kill me to reach into my back pocket and take my credit card out and run it through the machine. For the sake of my privacy - I'm not gonna mind doing that at all.

Just because an app is requesting a particular permission, does not mean they use it. Sometimes, developers ask for specific permissions which makes little sense. Eg: You said samsung pay - Camera permission.. you argue why would you need camera permission when you are simply tapping and paying. If you add a membership card, there is an option to scan its barcode so you need not enter the info manually/ make mistakes while typing. How will you scan the barcode? Through the camera app. Also, if you do not want to give the permission, deny that. Some features may not work as expected in the app.

Does it mean Samsung Pay is going in and simply taking photos through the camera in the wild? chances are probably next to nothing. There are some bad developers who abuse the system, but does not mean all developers are cruel.


I usually make it a point to check the permissions as soon as an app is installed and deny things which I feel are unnecessary. If I really want to use the app but the app requires a certain permission, one needs to make that decision and determine are you willing to give permissions/ find a different app.


Data is huge and worth billions, but not for all developers.

 

[bbgpsuser]

One of the restaurants that I frequent pushed out an update early April which required: Location, Photos/Media/Files, Camera, Microphone, Wifi connection information, Bluetooth connection information and Device ID & call information.

The first 3 (Location, Photos/Media/Files, Camera) probably make sense for the app for all the rewards activity.

There is no way that they need Microphone, Wifi connection information, Bluetooth connection information and Device ID & call information though. I deleted the app until they remove the requirement for these permissions.

 

[anon(7901790)]

Paranoia at its best... You think an app dev would open itself up to a class action law suit? Have you ever heard of anyone being taken advantage of by an app?

Can you say, "Cambridge-Analytica" and "Facebook"?

 

[chanchan05]

Can you say, "Cambridge-Analytica" and "Facebook"?

To be fair, if you look at the date that was posted, that hadn't happened yet.

 

[Jon York]

Okay, good points you guys made about the camera and the fingerprint scanners.

But there is no way in hell Samsung Pay needs access to my CONTACTS!
@chanchan05, you said, "The difference between Google/Samsung and Facebook is that they keep the data to themselves. Facebook shares the data."

I don't know how you would know that. Well, maybe you do - but I have no way of knowing that. I would have thought Facebook was one of the good guys who wouldn't share my private data either. But I was wrong on that one.

 

[chanchan05]

Okay, good points you guys made about the camera and the fingerprint scanners.

But there is no way in hell Samsung Pay needs access to my CONTACTS!
@chanchan05, you said, "The difference between Google/Samsung and Facebook is that they keep the data to themselves. Facebook shares the data."

I don't know how you would know that. Well, maybe you do - but I have no way of knowing that. I would have thought Facebook was one of the good guys who wouldn't share my private data either. But I was wrong on that one.

Contacts are needed as of v1.6 due to the gift cards functionality. It needs access to contacts so you can send them gift cards. Otherwise you'd have to memorize or copy paste the contact details if you want to send one. With that permission, the app can have a menu where you just choose the contact you want to send a GC to.


It's due to Google's and Samsung's marketing strategies. Google uses its data for its Adsense directed marketing service. Marketers pay Google to show their ads, and Google is the one that uses the data they got to curate the ads. Basically, Google is the only one that handles this. They don't sell the data they acquired because the buyers of data are their direct competitors. Buyers of data provide the same service as Google Adsense. Google isn't an ***** who would allow their own competitors to use the data they gathered so that they can be one upped in their own game.

Samsung is doing something similar because of its own huge portfolio of products they have their own marketing unit that assesses all of these. However, it's not as clear cut as Google who actually told the people what it does with your data. The main reason you won't have to worry about Samsung is because they have no one to sell data to as they used to be buyers of data themselves until the point they decided to just collect it on their own. Similar to Google, data buyers are competitors to Samsung, especially in China where there is no Google, its a mad scramble to be the Google of Chinese market. One of the reasons Samsung is pushing Bixby, as that would work anywhere. Personally I don't worry about Samsung not because of this but because I am using a Samsung phone and they more likely than not have my data anyway even if I did not install Samsung Pay. The phone may be yours but the OS is theirs, and you agreed to a terms of usage contract that the software on the phone may be modified in the future without notice.

Facebook on the other hand, is paid by other companies for the data that they collect. That was how it survived for so long without ads before. So they don't actually process the data, but they have third parties process it. This would not have been a problem had the dats been kept anonymous, which what most people believed was being done. I mean for example, what will knowing someone in LA likes tacos do if you dot know who that someone is right? But apparently, the data was not kept anonymous, so instead of just a random person who likes tacos, they actually know who that person who likes tacos is.

 

[Dooki]

one more on the issue of contacts. You are a contact. it cannot find you to log in from your contact list. Try playing a game that is connected to google play. If you do not have it available for contacts you cannot log in.

 

[Jon York]

Contacts are needed as of v1.6 due to the gift cards functionality. It needs access to contacts so you can send them gift cards. Otherwise you'd have to memorize or copy paste the contact details if you want to send one. With that permission, the app can have a menu where you just choose the contact you want to send a GC to.


...

You make a lot of sense. I can tell you know something about all this.

But it's still something to worry about. I know how valuable this kind of data is to marketers... it's like gold. And I know each additional data point they have on you adds value exponentially for them.

It makes sense what you said though about the only people Google could sell to would be their competitors. I'm not sure I follow that same reasoning in the case of Samsung though. But you're right - they probably have it all already.

Thanks for taking the time to write out an intelligent thought-provoking response.

one more on the issue of contacts. You are a contact. it cannot find you to log in from your contact list. Try playing a game that is connected to google play. If you do not have it available for contacts you cannot log in.

I'm not a contact in my contact list though. So I don't know how that would work. I haven't put myself in my contact list.

 

[Dooki]

I'm not a contact in my contact list though. So I don't know how that would work. I haven't put myself in my contact list.

AFAIK it includes your samsung account and google account. I would assume that it is reading your phone number/email from your phone to help with logging on.
I actually cannot log into games, Galaxy of Heroes for example, without allowing it contacts permission. It requires it to be able to read your gmail.
I turn off a lot of permissions. I don't need espn or tunein to know my location, it's strait streaming. but they will not log in without contacts. Permissions are a weird thing. I was reading one post where he was flipping out because it kept asking for microphone permissions, on whatsapp. didn't understand why the video needed it. extreme, sure. on the other hand facebook messages everyone just clicked through and look what happened.

google needs to start seriously upping it's game when it comes to what apps can and cannot do.

 

[chanchan05]

You make a lot of sense. I can tell you know something about all this.

But it's still something to worry about. I know how valuable this kind of data is to marketers... it's like gold. And I know each additional data point they have on you adds value exponentially for them.

It makes sense what you said though about the only people Google could sell to would be their competitors. I'm not sure I follow that same reasoning in the case of Samsung though. But you're right - they probably have it all already.

Thanks for taking the time to write out an intelligent thought-provoking response.



I'm not a contact in my contact list though. So I don't know how that would work. I haven't put myself in my contact list.

The Samsung part is indeed murky as they did not really come out in the open and say "this is what we do with your data and how we protect it" like Google did when they explained how they are keeping your data and no one sees it. The best explanation really is that Samsung doesn't really need your data to sell it, they've been one of the biggest companies in the world even without that. They need it to beef up their services. The reason why Google services are good is because they know people. Take Google Assistant for example. To be a good assistant, it has to know you. So for Bixby to be the same, it has to know you as well. Bixby gets all your data from the Samsung servers so it will be curated to you. This is just one example where Samsung actually does have a legitimate need for your data to provide their services. Note that Samsung never did say they don't sell your data. So you have some justification to be wary. It's just that I don't think they need to in a financial point of view, plus selling the data they acquire, especially data they get from China, where there is still no complete alternative to Google services, would allow competitors to use that data to create rival services. If Samsung wants to takes Google's place in China (since Google is banned), it needs as much data as it can get collated and keep it away from possible competitors.

As for your other contacts question, in your contacts there is a "me" card. When you login to your account, the contacts app also pulls your data from your account and places it in your profile in the contacts app under the "me" card. That's what's being accessed nowadays instead of your online profile.

 

[Jon York]

Well, whether or not Samsung sells the data - I don't really care. I don't even want Samsung to have it. And they surely don't need my CONTACTS for Samsung Pay! If I want to send a gift card to somebody - that doesn't give them any need to have access to ALL my contacts. I can easily type in the name and email address if that's what I want to do.

And that's weird about not being able to login to games without giving permission to your contacts.

Honestly, this all is very fishy because just a plain common sense reading would tell you - they don't need any access to your contacts at all in order to login!

So, when they require it and when you put two and two together and understand how incredibly valuable this data is to companies (even if they don't sell it but just use it for their own marketing purposes), it starts looking more and more like they have REQUIRED this permission because they want to get their hands on your data.

And it starts to look more and more like they've actually developed these apps and functions possibly for the sole purpose of getting their hands on your data. In other words, create an app that people are going to really, really want - and then require they hand over their data in exchange for it. And indeed that's exactly what Facebook app developers did.

Or, another way to look at it is - if you want to sell your app the best price is FREE. The next best price is an amount that's really low. And just maybe the ability to collect all this data is what pays the difference from the low or free price they give the apps away for - and what they really need to make in order to make a profit.

Honestly, I have been very trusting of big companies in the past - but with all that's coming out now and with some conversations I've had with high level TV marketing execs here in New York City - I have been made aware of just how valuable this data is and how companies are really bending ethics to get their hands on it.

I talked to a TV exec a few months ago and we started talking about this very thing. He told me he has been horrified by what he's seen his company do and others in the industry. He works for a cable TV network based in New York that owns several different cable channels - that you all would know. He said with the onslaught of competition in the TV space (think '500 channels') - that these companies are finding it awfully hard to survive.

He then started to explain to me that they've learned to "triangulate" data from their viewers and subscribers. For instance, maybe somebody will "join" their website by giving their name and email address to get some kind of email newsletter of whatever info they're interested in about shows on the channel. Then, if the channel can get them to download their app - they're GOLDEN.

Once they download their app, then they can track them everywhere they go. They then sell this information (in aggregate) to their advertisers. Now they can pitch their advertisers, ad time on the channel AND direct contact to their viewers in whatever specific locations their advertisers might be interested in.

For instance, they might have an advertiser like Protor and Gamble. P&G wants to do a campaign targeting women who are likely to buy paper towels. So they want to target women who go to supermarkets at least once a week. They can't know exactly who buys paper towels, but it's a pretty good guess that if a woman goes to a grocery store once a week that she probably does. And what a great marketing capability that is! They can target EXACTLY who is most likely to buy your product. Women who don't shop at grocery stores often are less likely to buy paper towels.

So this information, if they have your location and your contacts, is an absolute goldmine. With your contacts they assume that they can find people "like" you. So, if you go to the grocery store often, they'll assume a lot of your contacts do too. That gives them at least something to go on.

And they can do so many other things with this data. When they show ads to people who are watching their channel on an app - they can target different ads to different people. So they can target paper towel ads to viewers who they know are women who go to grocery stores at least once a week! And they'll target men's deodorant ads to men - during the same ad slot! This makes it far more valuable for advertisers to buy time on these channels... which means they'll pay more for it and the channels can survive even with the onslaught of "500" other channels.

Marketers are starved for information about individual consumers. So, any information they can get is invaluable.

For instance, did you know a big part of Facebook's advertising program is giving advertisers the ability to find other people who are "LIKE" someone else.

That someone else can either be people who have engaged with an advertiser's facebook page - or it can be an email list that the advertiser has uploaded.

If an advertiser uploads an email list - facebook will match as many of the email addresses as they can with users and then they'll go through each user's contact list to find other people who are similar or "like" those people in whatever respect the advertiser stipulates.

So, that's how valuable all this information is to these companies. And that's why I really don't trust them anymore - in light of the facebook breach to be using all this information in an upright way. That's why I also don't trust their flimsy reasons for saying they need it. They just really don't need to access all your contacts to do 95% of the things they say they're doing.

 

[chanchan05]

Well that's why Android has a feature to individually manage permissions. If you go into settings, you can turn off specific permissions for apps. Say take off the contacts permission for Samsung pay but leave the others on.

Well, whether or not Samsung sells the data - I don't really care. I don't even want Samsung to have it. And they surely don't need my CONTACTS for Samsung Pay! If I want to send a gift card to somebody - that doesn't give them any need to have access to ALL my contacts. I can easily type in the name and email address if that's what I want to do.

And that's weird about not being able to login to games without giving permission to your contacts.

Honestly, this all is very fishy because just a plain common sense reading would tell you - they don't need any access to your contacts at all in order to login!

So, when they require it and when you put two and two together and understand how incredibly valuable this data is to companies (even if they don't sell it but just use it for their own marketing purposes), it starts looking more and more like they have REQUIRED this permission because they want to get their hands on your data.

And it starts to look more and more like they've actually developed these apps and functions possibly for the sole purpose of getting their hands on your data. In other words, create an app that people are going to really, really want - and then require they hand over their data in exchange for it. And indeed that's exactly what Facebook app developers did.

Or, another way to look at it is - if you want to sell your app the best price is FREE. The next best price is an amount that's really low. And just maybe the ability to collect all this data is what pays the difference from the low or free price they give the apps away for - and what they really need to make in order to make a profit.

Honestly, I have been very trusting of big companies in the past - but with all that's coming out now and with some conversations I've had with high level TV marketing execs here in New York City - I have been made aware of just how valuable this data is and how companies are really bending ethics to get their hands on it.

I talked to a TV exec a few months ago and we started talking about this very thing. He told me he has been horrified by what he's seen his company do and others in the industry. He works for a cable TV network based in New York that owns several different cable channels - that you all would know. He said with the onslaught of competition in the TV space (think '500 channels') - that these companies are finding it awfully hard to survive.

He then started to explain to me that they've learned to "triangulate" data from their viewers and subscribers. For instance, maybe somebody will "join" their website by giving their name and email address to get some kind of email newsletter of whatever info they're interested in about shows on the channel. Then, if the channel can get them to download their app - they're GOLDEN.

Once they download their app, then they can track them everywhere they go. They then sell this information (in aggregate) to their advertisers. Now they can pitch their advertisers, ad time on the channel AND direct contact to their viewers in whatever specific locations their advertisers might be interested in.

For instance, they might have an advertiser like Protor and Gamble. P&G wants to do a campaign targeting women who are likely to buy paper towels. So they want to target women who go to supermarkets at least once a week. They can't know exactly who buys paper towels, but it's a pretty good guess that if a woman goes to a grocery store once a week that she probably does. And what a great marketing capability that is! They can target EXACTLY who is most likely to buy your product. Women who don't shop at grocery stores often are less likely to buy paper towels.

So this information, if they have your location and your contacts, is an absolute goldmine. With your contacts they assume that they can find people "like" you. So, if you go to the grocery store often, they'll assume a lot of your contacts do too. That gives them at least something to go on.

Marketers are starved for information about individual consumers. So, any information they can get is invaluable.

For instance, did you know a big part of Facebook's advertising program is giving advertisers the ability to find other people who are "LIKE" someone else.

That someone else can either be people who have engaged with an advertiser's facebook page - or it can be an email list that the advertiser has uploaded.

If an advertiser uploads an email list - facebook will match as many of the email addresses as they can with users and then they'll go through each user's contact list to find other people who are similar or "like" those people in whatever respect the advertiser stipulates.

So, that's how valuable all this information is to these companies. And that's why I really don't trust them anymore - in light of the facebook breach to be using all this information in an upright way. That's why I also don't trust their flimsy reasons for saying they need it. They just really don't need to access all your contacts to do 95% of the things they say they're doing.

 

[Almeuit]

So Jon.. deny contact permissions.

Problem solved? If not I'd suggest you don't use smartphones since you want to use the functionality yet not allow any of the permissions for the functionality.

Either that or swap to another manufacturer that you do trust (if any) since you don't trust Samsung.