4 ms·
> collects sensitive Android user data Looks like it’s basic metrics like how often the app is launched. It is not sensitive (user content of the apps would be
by lightgreen 6y ago
> collects sensitive Android user data
Looks like it’s basic metrics like how often the app is launched. It is not sensitive (user content of the apps would be sensitive).
It is an antitrust issue but barely a security/privacy issue.
- jstanley 6y agoCall me old-fashioned, but if anybody knows when or how often I'm executing a particular program on my own hardware, that is a privacy issue.
- lightgreen 6y agoIt is 1/1000 of the issue of looking into other app messages and 1/1000000 of the issue of looking into other app messages by humans and selling it to unknown parties. If we call every issue equally important privacy violation, one day we will overlook the one really important issue, which this issue isn’t.
- dividedbyzero 6y agoKnowing John/Jane Doe uses a particular dating app specializing in extranarital affairs frequently, and pretty much always when their spouse is out, that sort of thing may well be very sensitive.
- lightgreen 6y agoYes, but on average (or equally, in total) it is 1000 times less sensitive than reading messages and 1000000 times less sensitive than selling that data.
- sk0g 6y agoWhere are all these numbers coming from? Would you be ok with a publicly broadcasted CCTV in your bedroom, since one in your bathroom would be 1e4 times worse?
- lightgreen 6y agoNo, but broadcasting cctv pointing to the skies above my home would not be a huge issue. Continuing the analogy, in skies broadcasting the issue would be how they could connect to my camera, rather than privacy which is also violated and also a tiny issue. Or another analogy. If Google threatened to blow a nuclear bomb over Manhattan, Google gaining knowledge about competitors would not be an issue. Yeah, Google spying for other apps is bad. But let’s not miss the forest for the trees. (Also, please don’t use ad hominem arguments, the conversation becomes emotionally loaded rather than coldly rational.)
- sk0g 6y agoYou're using random numbers and referring to them as some universally accepted truths, in order to justify smaller transgressions. How is that fuel for a rational conversation? Edit: also, your entire justification for this spying is that it could be worse. That reads to me like an ad hominem attack in itself.
- lightgreen 6y ago> You're using random numbers I use some numbers which are my estimations, and not random numbers. I could explain how I made these estimations if you asked (Short version by definition of risk which is damage multiplied by probability). Also if you disagree with these estimations, you are welcome to suggest your better estimations, how these three scenarios compare to each other. > your entire justification for this spying is that it could be worse. That reads to me like an ad hominem attack in itself. It would be ad hominem attack if I said it could be worse for you. But I didn’t, and not everything is about you, so my argument wasn’t ad hominem. Also, probably best to admit this conversation is derailed and stop it for the good.
- jevgeni 6y agoMy second most favorite techbro meme is people pretending to be rational, when they are 100% emotional.
- tdeck 6y agoI'm not familiar with the details, but it's very likely these data are k-anonymized and sampled to make it impossible to identify a particular person.
- throwaway2048 6y agoaccording to who? that's a massive unwarranted assumption.
- jevgeni 6y agoDidn’t HN collectively loose their s..t when Microsoft did something similar with Win 10 telemetry?
- fxtentacle 6y agoThe difference appears to be that by now, everyone is kind of used to this behavior from Google.
- jevgeni 6y agoTrue. I also think the techbro meme of “M$ bad, Google good” still has a certain hold on people's minds.
- ta17711771 6y agoProject Zero, their general position in security-first¹, and nice hardware have me sticking around, even though I can't stand their methods and mission (ad dollars by any means). ¹Watch out for your privacy, though, if you don't remove Google "services" from your devices.
- fierarul 6y agoOn the contrary, the current tech bro pretty much loves Microsoft ever since the cool CEO took over and deeply distrusts Google.
- jevgeni 6y agoI'd bet it has less to do with the cool CEO and more with the plethora of useful devtools and tech released by Microsoft lately. Also, being able to reach a person on the phone regarding my Azure billing was radically different to being in contact (or lack thereof) with Google.
- fxtentacle 6y agoI'd attribute that to the fact that they actually have support. My MSDN subscription once had a problem activating, but it was quick and painless to solve by calling them. That alone makes them feel a lot more humane than Google, where you have to be lucky to ever reach a person even with critical problems like data loss inside GSuite.
- frf37 6y agoYou are assuming that all apps are generic. Some apps actually are specific to a medical condition you can have or certain aspect of your life that are not known by the general public. It is of the same nature as your browsing history in some ways. So yes apps usage patterns are actually potential privacy issues. Admittedly since most apps are downloaded from the app stores Google would already know part of the story but still your usage pattern may reveal even more especially when correlated to other data.