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Guess I'm never copying and pasting anything sensitive on my phone ever again. Still don't understand why clipboard-sniffing isn't behind a permissions flag.
by _bxg1 6y ago
Guess I'm never copying and pasting anything sensitive on my phone ever again. Still don't understand why clipboard-sniffing isn't behind a permissions flag.
- cryptoz 6y agoI think it's not your phone though in this case, it's the MacBook Pro where the copying is happening
- _bxg1 6y agoThe screen capture is from an iPad Pro. It's not clear how it was getting the Macbook clipboard; via AirDrop maybe? Really that just makes it even more concerning. Edit: Apparently it's Just A Thing: https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/copy-and-paste-between-devices-mchl70368996/mac https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/copy-and-paste-betw... But you can turn it off by turning off "Handoff", which luckily I already had. Nowhere is it mentioned in the settings UI that this extends to your clipboard.
- namdnay 6y agoHandoff really is awesome though. You start browsing a website on your phone, unlock your Mac and boom you can switch to the big screen. Copy a phone number from a website on your Mac, pull out your phone and paste it into the phone app. Once you’re used to it, it seems so obvious
- mcintyre1994 6y agoI’m not sure why they didn’t add a permissions flag for it either to be honest. Most apps are going to stop doing it because of the notifications, and presumably those that continue will make some effort to explain it somewhere so people don’t panic and uninstall their app when they’re told about it. Seems like a permissions flag with the usual app’s explanation of why would work well.
- rkagerer 6y agoWell, once upon a time you trusted the code running on your device. In Chrome on Android, the flag you want is under Settings | Site Settings | Clipboard | Ask before allowing sites to read text and images from the clipboard, and I think it's on by default.
- oblio 6y agoThe question is, does Android itself have that flag?
- tomjakubowski 6y agoDoes that setting affect other Android native apps' clipboard access? It wouldn't seem so.
- dddddaviddddd 6y agoThis would be a great feature for Firefox too! Doesn't look like there's interest though https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1013165 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1013165
- mititelu 6y agoI assume thats because sites dont have access and need a ctrl+v from user to see content
- _bxg1 6y agoiOS very early-on took on a model of not trusting the software you install on it, and for good reason. Android and the web followed soon afterward. This is the expectation today. Doubly so given Apple's chest-beating about privacy. This clipboard scandal is unacceptable.
- justaguyhere 6y agoNot a fan of any of the big tech companies, but Apple needs to be applauded for this feature. Can't wait to see how many such behavior is exposed by iOS 14
- heavyset_go 6y agoiOS isn't free from this kind of snooping[1][2]. [1] "How popular apps can read your phone's clipboard without permission": https://www.mysk.blog/2020/03/10/popular-iphone-and-ipad-apps-snooping-on-the-pasteboard/ https://www.mysk.blog/2020/03/10/popular-iphone-and-ipad-app... [2] "Popular iPhone and iPad Apps Snooping on the Pasteboard": https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/03/30/popular-apps-can-read-phones-clipboard-without-permission/ https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2020/03/30/popular-ap...
- reificator 6y ago> iOS isn't free from this kind of snooping They didn't say it was. They're saying they're looking forward to the next major release which alerts the user when this happens. That's why all these stories are coming out right after the release of the beta.
- wackget 6y agoOr they need to be lambasted for not making it a permission like it should be.
- OGWhales 6y agoI’d say “and” not “or”.
- filleduchaos 6y agoI'd love to know what OS you use that has a clipboard access permission for the foreground application.
- coronadisaster 6y agoWhy should they be applauded if they knew about the problem? notifying you about it is not enough... they need to let you act on it.
- ebg13 6y ago> Still don't understand why clipboard-sniffing isn't behind a permissions flag. Screw permissions flags. Clipboard-sniffing is never justified. Moving data out of the clipboard should only ever happen by direct user request via the OS interaction layer.
- leephillips 6y agoThis is so obviously, blindingly true that I am amazed it’s even possible for apps to do this.
- 0xEFF 6y agoLaunchbar and Dash on the mac both have great clipboard features. I use it many times a day. For example, a snippet to drop a markdown formatted link with the title from the first clipboard stack entry and the URL from the second clipboard stack entry.
- ebg13 6y agoNothing that you just said requires sniffing the clipboard contents without you initiating the transfer.
- _bxg1 6y agoI would tend to agree, but a handful of people have a handful of reasons why they like it, and so removing it completely isn't as much of a no-brainer as adding a permission dialog is.
- ebg13 6y agoSure, but the reasons are always so...contrived and frivolous...and none of them require accessing the clipboard automatically without the user invoking a system command. And the consequence of these poorly considered objections is what we have now. It's like people have either been gaslit into thinking that there's no sane alternative to the current nightmare or are so shortsighted that they don't understand the horrors lurking around every corner that wouldn't be there if they stopped to consider the consequences of [checks notes] "google maps doesn't require you to to paste the address in before it starts to route" and "dash can drop a markdown formatted link". Because saving you one click is surely _so_ important that it's worth giving up everything for.