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Is it not assumed/expected that if you're using android then google has access to all your phone's data/sensors?
by mike_n 8y ago
Is it not assumed/expected that if you're using android then google has access to all your phone's data/sensors?
- satori99 8y agoOne would think so. It is, after all, an operating system created by the largest advertising company that has ever existed, and they are not giving it away for altruistic reasons.
- _bxg1 8y ago*if you're using android with Google Services
- askvictor 8y agoNot certain why the downvotes; apart from community ROMs and Amazon's Android devices, Samsung has been positioning itself for some time to not be completely reliant on Google for it's phone business - they have an App Store of their own and their own duplicate functionality of many of Google's core services for Android. I wouldn't be surprised if they de-coupled from Google entirely at some point (yes, they'd need to convince developers over to their app store, but they're playing the long game)
- ReverseCold 8y agoI read the Samsung privacy policy, it's honestly not much better. Is there a project to replace all of play services with FOSS/encrypted ones?
- _bxg1 8y agoThere is, called MicroG. Although personally I don't use it on my google-less phone because it's a bit messy/early in development. You can make do (as I do) with LineageOS, F-Droid, and APKMirror. The last is run by the AndroidPolice folks and is therefore trustworthy.
- askvictor 8y agoTrue Samsung's not any better, but diversity is a good thing; if they have an alternative in place then they could much more easily provide competition with Google in this space (after all, Samsung sells hardware and doesn't really need to harvest your data)
- gpm 8y agoOf course it isn't. I own the phone, not Google. Do you expect Apple to listen to your conversations just because you use a mac and it has a microphone? Do you expect Toyota to track you everywhere you go because your car came with a GPS system? Building the system, let alone just making the software, doesn't give you the rights to all the data it produces after you sell it.
- oldcynic 8y agoYet most of the large corporations are taking exactly that view. GDPR can't come soon enough.
- merb 8y ago> Of course it isn't. I own the phone, not Google. Maybe the phone, but not the software running on it.
- subroutine 8y agoWhat is the difference? Both the hardware and the software are covered by hundreds of patents, copyright protections, license agreements, end user agreements, etc. The question here is what basic privacies can someone expect when they purchase a phone, and how transparent do companies need to be about what information they are collecting.
- sjwright 8y agoThe difference is the essence of ownership. Google/Apple can't physically take away my phone, but they could declare a violation of the terms of service and terminate the software license agreement.
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- onetimemanytime 8y ago>> Is it not assumed/expected that if you're using android then google has access to all your phone's data/sensors? Yeah but that doesn't mean that they should snap a photo or turn on the mic in my bedroom. The point is that there are limits. Legal and ethical.
- gcb0 8y agoeither they own the data or they don't. you can't go about making extremely granular arbitrary clauses.
- onetimemanytime 8y agoIf it's a yes or no /all or none, then they do not own it. They can't.