3 ms·

The problem isn't that social networks can't implement this, it is that they don't want to. Facebook and LinkedIn, for example, want to know who all our contac

by junto 11y ago

The problem isn't that social networks can't implement this, it is that they don't want to. Facebook and LinkedIn, for example, want to know who all our contacts are, because that data is so valuable to them. This needs to be built into the mobile OS. The OS should only be allow third parties to access some kind of protected contacts, nothing more. Furthermore, we need fine-grained control in the mobile OS, to optionally block apps from accessing private information. Apps should still work if certain privacy features are enabled by choice, rather than the default today, which appears to be "install our app and accept our defaults for 'all the things' or don't use our app". Bravo to Whisper Systems calling this out, and trying to work towards a technical solution.

Arnt 11y ago
You might want to reread the post: "As far as we can determine, practical privacy preserving contact discovery remains an unsolved problem."
- junto 11y ago
  But there is some degree of success mentioned in the article, even if it doesn't work for huge networks. That being said, some degree of privacy is better than none at all. Currently Facebook et al upload every single piece of contact information we have on our devices. That's insane from a privacy perspective.
- zeveb 11y ago
  It's really not, though — see the comments below. There are current approaches which send on the order of magnitude as much data as in one party's address book.
Terr_ 11y ago
> This needs to be built into the mobile OS. The OS should only be allow third parties to access some kind of protected contacts, nothing more. In the meantime, some Android versions support providing a blank-list when untrusted applications request access. The choice between "all contacts" and "no contacts" works at least 90% of the time.
- LeifCarrotson 11y ago
  As far as I know, "some" is just 6.0, which is currently at 2.3% adoption (I have it on my Moto X and like it. About a third of the apps I had before the upgrade fail to work if not given contacts or location, so I just uninstall them.) iOS has the same feature but much greater adoption. What I would really like is a "some contacts" option. I still have people I haven't called in years in my phone, but if I could give an app a list of 20 family, friends, and coworkers that would make things simpler.
  - Terr_ 11y ago
    I've never had a compatibility-problem with the CynanogenMod's "privacy guard", I'm not sure how the implementations differ.

by junto 11y ago

Arnt 11y ago

You might want to reread the post: "As far as we can determine, practical privacy preserving contact discovery remains an unsolved problem."

junto 11y ago
But there is some degree of success mentioned in the article, even if it doesn't work for huge networks. That being said, some degree of privacy is better than none at all. Currently Facebook et al upload every single piece of contact information we have on our devices. That's insane from a privacy perspective.
zeveb 11y ago
It's really not, though — see the comments below. There are current approaches which send on the order of magnitude as much data as in one party's address book.

Terr_ 11y ago

> This needs to be built into the mobile OS. The OS should only be allow third parties to access some kind of protected contacts, nothing more. In the meantime, some Android versions support providing a blank-list when untrusted applications request access. The choice between "all contacts" and "no contacts" works at least 90% of the time.

LeifCarrotson 11y ago
As far as I know, "some" is just 6.0, which is currently at 2.3% adoption (I have it on my Moto X and like it. About a third of the apps I had before the upgrade fail to work if not given contacts or location, so I just uninstall them.) iOS has the same feature but much greater adoption. What I would really like is a "some contacts" option. I still have people I haven't called in years in my phone, but if I could give an app a list of 20 family, friends, and coworkers that would make things simpler.
- Terr_ 11y ago
  I've never had a compatibility-problem with the CynanogenMod's "privacy guard", I'm not sure how the implementations differ.