What your phone app doesn't say: It's watching

[dspcap]

Kind of always knew this was probably happening, but didn't realize how much. Worth the read.

What your phone app doesn't say: It's watching - Yahoo! News

 

[solo1]

Its so evident that this crap is happening ... Hell its all over the internet ... Its in EVERY grocery store FREE club membership ... and so on ... The only way to bypass it is to fall off the planet ... live in the woods and live a simple "quaker" type Life ... Which doesnt sound too bad sometimes.

 

[wmtoandroid]

"And while Android phones offer robust warnings when applications are first installed, many people breeze through them for the gratification of using the apps quickly."

Did they just dismiss the Android solution to the problem?? Yes, when installing a fart app, if you see that it can read and write from your contacts and has access to your account credentials, then it's probably a malicious app. These install warnings are invaluable for the end user and since Android is the only mobile OS to at least offer a warning, more credit should have been due.

 

[Kupe]

Companies like the unnamed 'mobile phone security firm' (whatever that means) should go poking around more of the closed software environments. Clearly these guys are picking the low hanging fruit by trying to make a big issue out of the Android way of doing business: Full and open declaration of access to various phone functions. I suspect this same company hasn't spent a minute sifting through decompiled Microsoft Code to find all of its undeclared weaknesses, security holes, and back doors (yes, Microsoft software collects information about you without telling you) - that would require more effort than simply reading a Marketplace screen.

 

[Joeybear23]

Pardon me while I throw my phone away, donate all my belongings to charity, and live in an alley with a paper bag on my head.

 

[Joeybear23]

Companies like the unnamed 'mobile phone security firm' (whatever that means) should go poking around more of the closed software environments. Clearly these guys are picking the low hanging fruit by trying to make a big issue out of the Android way of doing business: Full and open declaration of access to various phone functions. I suspect this same company hasn't spent a minute sifting through decompiled Microsoft Code to find all of its undeclared weaknesses, security holes, and back doors (yes, Microsoft software collects information about you without telling you) - that would require more effort than simply reading a Marketplace screen.

I imagine Gates can fit a whole lot more spyware in Office (700MB base install) than what can fit in the average Android app (2 MB)

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Someone needs to make a robust firewall for Android, so that WE can control what applications are allowed to send data out.

 

[wmtoandroid]

Someone needs to make a robust firewall for Android, so that WE can control what applications are allowed to send data out.

This would be a great idea, but what would happen to apps with ads that rely on the internet? Blocking data access would surely break the ad component to those apps... making a lot of developers upset.

 

[takeshi]

Its in EVERY grocery store FREE club membership ... and so on ... The only way to bypass it is to fall off the planet ...

Really? I just refuse to deal with those memberships.

 

[rpfarrah]

It makes sense to really SEE what information those little apps are using on your phone when you install them. It's probably your only line of defense.

 

[dspcap]

This just came out on the front of AC.

http://www.androidcentral.com/rogue-android app-stealing-data-according-security-firm