8 ms·

Apple delete apps which send telemetry to Chinese servers (2-3 days old news), Google don't care. So, Android devices sucks with privacy and cheap space to far

Apple delete apps which send telemetry to Chinese servers (2-3 days old news), Google don't care. So, Android devices sucks with privacy and cheap space to farming to other companies. Heard some Chinese companies sell phones with ad injections in default apps.

philipov 8y ago
Yeah, like Lenovo which sells laptops with preinstalled adware and MitM attacks.
- joering2 8y ago
  Good point but they still make best laptops IMHO. I "eat" so many Toshibas, Sonys, Acers, even two Macs with Windows 7 on it... The nice thing is they still give you drivers even to Windows 7. When I get new Lenovo laptop, I immediately throw away their drive, put a bigger one and install Windows 7 from scratch.
  - danieldk 8y ago
    When I get new Lenovo laptop, I immediately throw away their drive, put a bigger one and install Windows 7 from scratch. At least for some time, this was not good enough. The shipped crap/spyware in the firmware and exploited Windows Platform Binary Table to inject their spyware into freshly installed Windows. So, even a clean disk and an official Windows CD didn't evade the spyware: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nasty/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nas... Luckily, desktop Linux/BSD is probably too obscure to be on their radar.
    - minkiu 8y ago
      It is on their radar: https://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2018/08/06/please-welcome-lenovo-to-the-lvfs/ https://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2018/08/06/please-welcome-le...
    - spacehome 8y ago
      That's disgusting. I wish this were illegal, because people deserve to be in jail over this.
    - matheusmoreira 8y ago
      That's incredibly abusive.
jstarfish 8y ago
> Heard some Chinese companies sell phones with ad injections in default apps. Yep. I bought a cheap tablet off of Amazon with the only use for it needing to be able to read digital textbooks at close to their equivalent physical size. This was back when tablets larger than 7" were crazy expensive. This one wasn't. It has so many ads injected into and between apps (full-screen popups on app change) that it's unusable for anything other than reading static content (which is luckily what I bought it for). Response time is on par with a 1st-gen Kindle. I thought I'd be cute and implement DNS adblocking at the router level but that just causes crashes and hangs since they didn't see a need to implement a graceful failure mode for the ad callbacks.
- tracker1 8y ago
  I see a lot of websites that should have graceful failures do the same... can't log into one of my banks, and make a car payment without disabling uBlock (chrome/desktop) or Brave (android). With the more recent changes in Firefox, I find the UX acceptable and may go through switching back... I've got a few things on google but may migrate out.
jrockway 8y ago
This seems awfully alarmist. There are a ton of apps that send telemetry to AWS servers in the US, and from there they could easily send the data back to China. Amazon doesn't care. Apple doesn't care about hosting your app's backend on AWS. Network filtering isn't going to protect your privacy from anyone. If Apple (or Google) were really serious, they'd require app developers to have a privacy policy and have them post a bond in case they violate the policy. (They'd also need to audit every application backend to ensure that it's not sending data back to China.) Nobody would write apps with this sort of policy in place... so here we are. If you really think the Chinese government is out to get you, which is a very real concern, I would not use any apps on your phone. The app developers do not care about your safety, and neither does Apple.
- threeseed 8y ago
  Apple will actually require all developers to have a privacy policy by October 3rd. http://fortune.com/2018/09/01/apple-app-store-privacy-policy/ http://fortune.com/2018/09/01/apple-app-store-privacy-policy... And having developers post a bond is logistically impossible to implement. Far better just to have Apple kick them off the store entirely. Which is what they do already.
  - lern_too_spel 8y ago
    > Apple will actually require all developers to have a privacy policy by October 3rd. A year and a half after their more privacy-conscious competition but good progress: https://www.iubenda.com/blog/privacy-policy-for-android-app/#playstore https://www.iubenda.com/blog/privacy-policy-for-android-app/... > And having developers post a bond is logistically impossible to implement. Require a credit card at publisher signup. Explain it will be charged for violations.
    - freehunter 8y ago
      >their more privacy-conscious competition I don't want to assume you're trolling, but this is literally the first time I've heard anyone ever say Google is more privacy conscious than Apple.
hjek 8y ago
Well, at least you can easily get free/libre apps (without Chinese spyware) on Android with F-droid[0]. It would be more accurate to say that Google Play sucks. [0]: https://f-droid.org/ https://f-droid.org/
rapnie 8y ago
> Heard some Chinese companies sell phones with ad injections in default apps. Don't need Chinese companies for that. When GDPR came into effect I received privacy policy msgs from adware (Foursquare) inside my standard Samsung Image Gallery. Not only Google, but Samsung as well is a horrible privacy nightmare.
krn 8y ago
> Heard some Chinese companies sell phones with ad injections in default apps. Cubot is a good example[1]: "However, it was discovered that Cubot had removed the malware from the System UI package and hidden it under a new package, com.android.telephone, disguised as the phone dialer. On further digging, it was discovered that the new package does not have any real function and it manages to evade any detection by antivirus apps such as NetGuard, that would detect the malware under System UI previously." [1] https://techweez.com/2017/09/19/cubot-malware/ https://techweez.com/2017/09/19/cubot-malware/
- baki 8y ago
  Or Dogee T5. It wakes you up at night with the noisy ads. terrible. It would be a quite good phone, but not. useless. One of the adwares is in the wireless update system app, others I don't remember already where are they exactly, but in system apps.
  - JVIDEL 8y ago
    Those are bottom of the barrel brands and the specs are pretty bad. The only thing they have is low prices.
    - krn 8y ago
      Umidigi[1] could also be added to the list, even though the phones are quite impressive on paper. [1] http://www.umidigi.com/ http://www.umidigi.com/
snaky 8y ago
You can install XPrivacy [1] on your Android device. You cannot do that with Apple device. [1] https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/xprivacylua6-0-android-privacy-manager-t3730663 https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/xprivacylua6...
- scarface74 8y ago
  You don't need to. Unlike early versions of Android and apps that still link to older versions, with iOS, you have never had a list of permissions you had to accept before launching the app. The app ask permission when you need a feature and you can deny it the permission. After it asks once (three times?), it will never ask for the permission again and you have to go to settings to enable the permission.
  - drdaeman 8y ago
    You have a point but are also mistaken. XPrivacy does way more granular access checks than Android or iOS provide. The downside is, it's not casual user-friendly. With XPrivacy you're able (or used to be able - I'm not sure if it works on recent Android versions) control things like how apps can use WebViews (e.g. what URLs they are allowed to open there), or whenever app is allowed to read or write (all separately) clipboard data. Etc etc.
    - scarface74 8y ago
      I’m looking at a list of permissions here: https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy/blob/master/README.md Most of these permissions either require individual consent after you run the app (and can be revoked in settings) or aren’t allowed under any circumstances. The exceptions I see are: Clipboard Internet access (you can block cellular internet access on iOS and 3rd party keyboards can be blocked from allowing any network access) Prevent links from opening in a view - depending on which type of web view that an app uses, the native content blocking framework that third party ad blockers use for Safari also work in the WebView. For instance, the ad blocker I have installed works with Feedly - my RSS reader. The only sensor I think that can be blocked is the GPS.
lenkite 8y ago
Android !== OnePlus
jacksmith21006 8y ago
https://www.androidauthority.com/using-google-fi-in-china-850456/ https://www.androidauthority.com/using-google-fi-in-china-85... Using Project Fi in China: Say goodbye to VPNs - Android Authority Versus https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/29/apple-removes-vpn-apps-from-the-app-store-in-china/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/29/apple-removes-vpn-apps-fro... Apple removes VPN apps from the App Store in China

philipov 8y ago

Yeah, like Lenovo which sells laptops with preinstalled adware and MitM attacks.

joering2 8y ago
Good point but they still make best laptops IMHO. I "eat" so many Toshibas, Sonys, Acers, even two Macs with Windows 7 on it... The nice thing is they still give you drivers even to Windows 7. When I get new Lenovo laptop, I immediately throw away their drive, put a bigger one and install Windows 7 from scratch.
- danieldk 8y ago
  When I get new Lenovo laptop, I immediately throw away their drive, put a bigger one and install Windows 7 from scratch. At least for some time, this was not good enough. The shipped crap/spyware in the firmware and exploited Windows Platform Binary Table to inject their spyware into freshly installed Windows. So, even a clean disk and an official Windows CD didn't evade the spyware: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nasty/ https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nas... Luckily, desktop Linux/BSD is probably too obscure to be on their radar.
  - minkiu 8y ago
    It is on their radar: https://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2018/08/06/please-welcome-lenovo-to-the-lvfs/ https://blogs.gnome.org/hughsie/2018/08/06/please-welcome-le...
  - spacehome 8y ago
    That's disgusting. I wish this were illegal, because people deserve to be in jail over this.
  - matheusmoreira 8y ago
    That's incredibly abusive.

jstarfish 8y ago

> Heard some Chinese companies sell phones with ad injections in default apps. Yep. I bought a cheap tablet off of Amazon with the only use for it needing to be able to read digital textbooks at close to their equivalent physical size. This was back when tablets larger than 7" were crazy expensive. This one wasn't. It has so many ads injected into and between apps (full-screen popups on app change) that it's unusable for anything other than reading static content (which is luckily what I bought it for). Response time is on par with a 1st-gen Kindle. I thought I'd be cute and implement DNS adblocking at the router level but that just causes crashes and hangs since they didn't see a need to implement a graceful failure mode for the ad callbacks.

tracker1 8y ago
I see a lot of websites that should have graceful failures do the same... can't log into one of my banks, and make a car payment without disabling uBlock (chrome/desktop) or Brave (android). With the more recent changes in Firefox, I find the UX acceptable and may go through switching back... I've got a few things on google but may migrate out.

jrockway 8y ago

This seems awfully alarmist. There are a ton of apps that send telemetry to AWS servers in the US, and from there they could easily send the data back to China. Amazon doesn't care. Apple doesn't care about hosting your app's backend on AWS. Network filtering isn't going to protect your privacy from anyone. If Apple (or Google) were really serious, they'd require app developers to have a privacy policy and have them post a bond in case they violate the policy. (They'd also need to audit every application backend to ensure that it's not sending data back to China.) Nobody would write apps with this sort of policy in place... so here we are. If you really think the Chinese government is out to get you, which is a very real concern, I would not use any apps on your phone. The app developers do not care about your safety, and neither does Apple.

threeseed 8y ago
Apple will actually require all developers to have a privacy policy by October 3rd. http://fortune.com/2018/09/01/apple-app-store-privacy-policy/ http://fortune.com/2018/09/01/apple-app-store-privacy-policy... And having developers post a bond is logistically impossible to implement. Far better just to have Apple kick them off the store entirely. Which is what they do already.
- lern_too_spel 8y ago
  > Apple will actually require all developers to have a privacy policy by October 3rd. A year and a half after their more privacy-conscious competition but good progress: https://www.iubenda.com/blog/privacy-policy-for-android-app/#playstore https://www.iubenda.com/blog/privacy-policy-for-android-app/... > And having developers post a bond is logistically impossible to implement. Require a credit card at publisher signup. Explain it will be charged for violations.
  - freehunter 8y ago
    >their more privacy-conscious competition I don't want to assume you're trolling, but this is literally the first time I've heard anyone ever say Google is more privacy conscious than Apple.

hjek 8y ago

Well, at least you can easily get free/libre apps (without Chinese spyware) on Android with F-droid[0]. It would be more accurate to say that Google Play sucks. [0]: https://f-droid.org/ https://f-droid.org/

rapnie 8y ago

> Heard some Chinese companies sell phones with ad injections in default apps. Don't need Chinese companies for that. When GDPR came into effect I received privacy policy msgs from adware (Foursquare) inside my standard Samsung Image Gallery. Not only Google, but Samsung as well is a horrible privacy nightmare.

krn 8y ago

> Heard some Chinese companies sell phones with ad injections in default apps. Cubot is a good example[1]: "However, it was discovered that Cubot had removed the malware from the System UI package and hidden it under a new package, com.android.telephone, disguised as the phone dialer. On further digging, it was discovered that the new package does not have any real function and it manages to evade any detection by antivirus apps such as NetGuard, that would detect the malware under System UI previously." [1] https://techweez.com/2017/09/19/cubot-malware/ https://techweez.com/2017/09/19/cubot-malware/

baki 8y ago
Or Dogee T5. It wakes you up at night with the noisy ads. terrible. It would be a quite good phone, but not. useless. One of the adwares is in the wireless update system app, others I don't remember already where are they exactly, but in system apps.
- JVIDEL 8y ago
  Those are bottom of the barrel brands and the specs are pretty bad. The only thing they have is low prices.
  - krn 8y ago
    Umidigi[1] could also be added to the list, even though the phones are quite impressive on paper. [1] http://www.umidigi.com/ http://www.umidigi.com/

snaky 8y ago

You can install XPrivacy [1] on your Android device. You cannot do that with Apple device. [1] https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/xprivacylua6-0-android-privacy-manager-t3730663 https://forum.xda-developers.com/xposed/modules/xprivacylua6...

scarface74 8y ago
You don't need to. Unlike early versions of Android and apps that still link to older versions, with iOS, you have never had a list of permissions you had to accept before launching the app. The app ask permission when you need a feature and you can deny it the permission. After it asks once (three times?), it will never ask for the permission again and you have to go to settings to enable the permission.
- drdaeman 8y ago
  You have a point but are also mistaken. XPrivacy does way more granular access checks than Android or iOS provide. The downside is, it's not casual user-friendly. With XPrivacy you're able (or used to be able - I'm not sure if it works on recent Android versions) control things like how apps can use WebViews (e.g. what URLs they are allowed to open there), or whenever app is allowed to read or write (all separately) clipboard data. Etc etc.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    I’m looking at a list of permissions here: https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy/blob/master/README.md https://github.com/M66B/XPrivacy/blob/master/README.md Most of these permissions either require individual consent after you run the app (and can be revoked in settings) or aren’t allowed under any circumstances. The exceptions I see are: Clipboard Internet access (you can block cellular internet access on iOS and 3rd party keyboards can be blocked from allowing any network access) Prevent links from opening in a view - depending on which type of web view that an app uses, the native content blocking framework that third party ad blockers use for Safari also work in the WebView. For instance, the ad blocker I have installed works with Feedly - my RSS reader. The only sensor I think that can be blocked is the GPS.

lenkite 8y ago

Android !== OnePlus

jacksmith21006 8y ago

https://www.androidauthority.com/using-google-fi-in-china-850456/ https://www.androidauthority.com/using-google-fi-in-china-85... Using Project Fi in China: Say goodbye to VPNs - Android Authority Versus https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/29/apple-removes-vpn-apps-from-the-app-store-in-china/ https://techcrunch.com/2017/07/29/apple-removes-vpn-apps-fro... Apple removes VPN apps from the App Store in China