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Imagine if you invited an electrician to your house to fix something, but he would secretly search for your documents and copied them. That is what many apps do
by codedokode 9y ago
Imagine if you invited an electrician to your house to fix something, but he would secretly search for your documents and copied them. That is what many apps do today. They advertise themselves as a game or as a map app but secretly they spy on you or use your phone for their purposes.
- tn_ 9y agoThat's not a fair comparison. Imagine if you hired an electrician for no money, and you kept using them over and over again. I expect if I were to pay for an alternative to not have my privacy violated.
- blunte 9y agoAs Walmart has proven, people will choose cheaper over their own long term benefit (and especially the benefit of others)
- codedokode 9y agoIt doesn't matter. If an electrian says he will work for free it doesn't give him any special rights to do anything except his job. It is sad that some people in Silicon Valley find it acceptable and ethical.
- BoorishBears 9y agoThey don’t say they’ll work for free, they say they’ll work in exchange for your data, which they will then sell
- s73v3r_ 9y agoWhere do they come out and say that? Where do they put a message, in readable english, and not buried under a thousand other things, that says they'll do that?
- megy 9y agoI guess you could say they do that when they ask for permission to you camera, to your call list, etc...
- codedokode 9y agoAllowing the app to access the contact list doesn't mean that the user allows to upload call history to the server. Maybe they only want to add one of the people from their contact list.
- BoorishBears 9y agoI agree privacy policy details are opaque, but it takes the bare minimum of skimming to know if the policy is not giving up your data. It should be clear as day what’s being collected and it’s a failing that it’s not, but there’s also the old adage of “if it’s too good to be true...” doing some due diligence when you’re promised the services of a billion dollar company that’s not charging you is prudent.
- codedokode 9y agoIf you search for Facebook on Google Play then you'll see the word "free" under Facebook icon [1]. It is interesting ,that the app page [2] doesn't have this word, but it doesn't say that Facebook is going to upload your call list to the server either. So they advertise the app as "free". [1] https://play.google.com/store/search?q=facebook&c=apps&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/search?q=facebook&c=apps&hl=en [2] https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.katana&hl=en https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.facebook.k...
- endorphone 9y agoI expect if I were to pay for an alternative to not have my privacy violated. The whole free versus pay argument is sophistry. Many pay products usurp your privacy. Your television is selling your viewing habits. Your car telematics solution is selling your movements. That operating system is mining your activity to sell you things. And many free products defend your privacy. Linux, VLC, Firefox, IPF, and on and on. More concerned for your privacy than any other product. So can we please stop this binary differentiation. It isn't useful.
- confounded 9y agoHow are you using Uber without paying?