6 ms·

From the article: > The 1,325 apps that violated permissions on Android used workarounds hidden in its code that would take personal data from sources like Wi-

From the article: > The 1,325 apps that violated permissions on Android used workarounds hidden in its code that would take personal data from sources like Wi-Fi connections and metadata stored in photos. > Researchers found that Shutterfly, a photo-editing app, had been gathering GPS coordinates from photos and sending that data to its own servers, even when users declined to give the app permission to access location data. > Some apps were relying on other apps that were granted permission to look at personal data, piggybacking off their access to gather phone identifiers like your IMEI number. These apps would read through unprotected files on a device's SD card and harvest data they didn't have permission to access. So if you let other apps access personal data, and they stored it in a folder on the SD card, these spying apps would be able to take that information. So basically, they can't read your location, but they can read other things that contain your (previous) location and other information about you. Edit: The article links to the original research[0], which seems to describe/link to different methods that the apps use. I haven't had time to read it yet, but it seems interesting. [0] https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_events/1415032/privacycon2019_serge_egelman.pdf https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_events/141...

giancarlostoro 7y ago
> Researchers found that Shutterfly, a photo-editing app, had been gathering GPS coordinates from photos and sending that data to its own servers, even when users declined to give the app permission to access location data. One of the first things I disable when I have a new phone is geolocation being added to photos. I just don't want my location randomly being shared from an image without my consent. If I wanted you to know where I took the picture, I would tell you.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  > If I wanted you to know where I took the picture, I would tell you. That's really missing the major use case, though, isn't it? I like having it enabled so my phone will tell me where I took the picture, because there's little chance I'll be able to a year later. It'd be nice if the "access photos" API on the device would have a separate permission for EXIF data. Without it, the app would receive only the image itself, not the attached metadata - kinda like how Facebook strips off any EXIF data when you publish a photo there.
  - muro 7y ago
    I think that's what Google Photos do when you share (at least by link). Would be nice if photos accessed on Android had their location stripped, if the app doesn't have location access.
  - izacus 7y ago
    This is actually the change coming to Android Q - OS will strip out location data from photos when apps access them. EXIF will require extra permissions.
    - favorited 7y ago
      That's awesome. I have EXIF-stripping apps which I use to remove location data before uploading them in other apps, but for all I know the EXIF-stripping apps are harvesting the location data themselves...
      - snaky 7y ago
        https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.jarsilio.android.scrambledeggsif/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.jarsilio.android.scrambl...
  - autoexec 7y ago
    That still leaves google collecting your location info from the EXIF data just as I assume facebook collects your as it is stripped out. Google doesn't need to know the exact date, time, and location every photo I take was taken either.
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      If Google's part of your threat model, it's probably time to ditch the Android phone entirely. No amount of permissions is really going to matter.
      - autoexec 7y ago
- flukus 7y ago
  It should be disabled by default, data that doesn't exist is data that can't stolen. Most people are also surprised that an image contains GPS co-ordinates and do not consider that something as simple as sharing a photo on the internet is giving away there home address.
HillaryBriss 7y ago
> So basically, they can't read your location, but they can read other things that contain your (previous) location Yes, and I think we could make a good case that the Android platform did a poor job of clarifying this to the user. I would guess that the typical android user thinks "location permission" means location data of any type as generated by any subsystem on the device. To whom would a reasonable user assign responsibility for this protection failure -- app developers or the Android platform?
- ocdtrekkie 7y ago
  I mean, as much as I'd like to give Android crud here, I think this is incredibly unethical developer behavior, and it's kind of incredible to see we still have so many people in the industry who think scraping location data out of people's stored photos for advertising data is okay. It's well outside the realm of something I'd think someone would even try to do, especially from a pretty legitimate company like Shutterfly.
  - JadeNB 7y ago
    > I mean, as much as I'd like to give Android crud here, I think this is incredibly unethical developer behavior …. Right, but "our system will protect you from ethical developers!" isn't much of a security model, so I think there's still plenty of blame for Android here.
    - izacus 7y ago
      What exactly is the blame of Android? That it allows the app to read photos when user allows it to read photo files? Because this criminal behaviour is also present in Linux, Windows and macOS. Or the fact that an app can write a file to disk? And then another app can open the file? Also criminal behaviour present in other operating systems. Some users might even call it a feature and do the unthinkable - share files between applications! Horrible! Seriously, you're blaming the OS because it allows you to run useful software on it, just like a desktop computer. If you want a jailed down device, it's fine: buy Apple. But that doesn't mean every pocket computer needs to be a crippled device.
Ajedi32 7y ago
This particular issue should be fixed by Android Q's new "scoped storage" permission model: https://developer.android.com/preview/privacy/scoped-storage#photos-location-info https://developer.android.com/preview/privacy/scoped-storage...
- gruez 7y ago
  Looks like apps can opt out via an api call, so it's not really a security measure.
  - Ajedi32 7y ago
    That's only for the beta build of Android Q. It won't work in the production release.

giancarlostoro 7y ago

> Researchers found that Shutterfly, a photo-editing app, had been gathering GPS coordinates from photos and sending that data to its own servers, even when users declined to give the app permission to access location data. One of the first things I disable when I have a new phone is geolocation being added to photos. I just don't want my location randomly being shared from an image without my consent. If I wanted you to know where I took the picture, I would tell you.

ceejayoz 7y ago
> If I wanted you to know where I took the picture, I would tell you. That's really missing the major use case, though, isn't it? I like having it enabled so my phone will tell me where I took the picture, because there's little chance I'll be able to a year later. It'd be nice if the "access photos" API on the device would have a separate permission for EXIF data. Without it, the app would receive only the image itself, not the attached metadata - kinda like how Facebook strips off any EXIF data when you publish a photo there.
- muro 7y ago
  I think that's what Google Photos do when you share (at least by link). Would be nice if photos accessed on Android had their location stripped, if the app doesn't have location access.
- izacus 7y ago
  This is actually the change coming to Android Q - OS will strip out location data from photos when apps access them. EXIF will require extra permissions.
  - favorited 7y ago
    That's awesome. I have EXIF-stripping apps which I use to remove location data before uploading them in other apps, but for all I know the EXIF-stripping apps are harvesting the location data themselves...
    - snaky 7y ago
      https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.jarsilio.android.scrambledeggsif/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.jarsilio.android.scrambl...
- autoexec 7y ago
  That still leaves google collecting your location info from the EXIF data just as I assume facebook collects your as it is stripped out. Google doesn't need to know the exact date, time, and location every photo I take was taken either.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    If Google's part of your threat model, it's probably time to ditch the Android phone entirely. No amount of permissions is really going to matter.
    - autoexec 7y ago
flukus 7y ago
It should be disabled by default, data that doesn't exist is data that can't stolen. Most people are also surprised that an image contains GPS co-ordinates and do not consider that something as simple as sharing a photo on the internet is giving away there home address.

HillaryBriss 7y ago

> So basically, they can't read your location, but they can read other things that contain your (previous) location Yes, and I think we could make a good case that the Android platform did a poor job of clarifying this to the user. I would guess that the typical android user thinks "location permission" means location data of any type as generated by any subsystem on the device. To whom would a reasonable user assign responsibility for this protection failure -- app developers or the Android platform?

ocdtrekkie 7y ago
I mean, as much as I'd like to give Android crud here, I think this is incredibly unethical developer behavior, and it's kind of incredible to see we still have so many people in the industry who think scraping location data out of people's stored photos for advertising data is okay. It's well outside the realm of something I'd think someone would even try to do, especially from a pretty legitimate company like Shutterfly.
- JadeNB 7y ago
  > I mean, as much as I'd like to give Android crud here, I think this is incredibly unethical developer behavior …. Right, but "our system will protect you from ethical developers!" isn't much of a security model, so I think there's still plenty of blame for Android here.
  - izacus 7y ago
    What exactly is the blame of Android? That it allows the app to read photos when user allows it to read photo files? Because this criminal behaviour is also present in Linux, Windows and macOS. Or the fact that an app can write a file to disk? And then another app can open the file? Also criminal behaviour present in other operating systems. Some users might even call it a feature and do the unthinkable - share files between applications! Horrible! Seriously, you're blaming the OS because it allows you to run useful software on it, just like a desktop computer. If you want a jailed down device, it's fine: buy Apple. But that doesn't mean every pocket computer needs to be a crippled device.

Ajedi32 7y ago

This particular issue should be fixed by Android Q's new "scoped storage" permission model: https://developer.android.com/preview/privacy/scoped-storage#photos-location-info https://developer.android.com/preview/privacy/scoped-storage...

gruez 7y ago
Looks like apps can opt out via an api call, so it's not really a security measure.
- Ajedi32 7y ago
  That's only for the beta build of Android Q. It won't work in the production release.