3 ms·
>What the user really wants to know ... is this malware? Yes. And unfortunately the permissions don't do anything, at all, to help you with that. Permissions
by jellicle 15y ago
>What the user really wants to know ... is this malware?
Yes. And unfortunately the permissions don't do anything, at all, to help you with that.
Permissions for a really useful, non-malware app: access address book, internet, blah-blah.
Permissions for a really terrible, malware app: access address book, internet, blah-blah.
Permissions are security theatre. The app store management may continue to use them but they should be hidden from the user - they are completely useless to the end user.
- biafra 15y agoThey are not completely useless. If a user doesn't want an app to send or receive SMS or make calls this can be prevented by permissions. This is true for several other permissions.
- glhaynes 15y agoThey are useless for a very large class of users - it can be argued that those users should educate themselves more if they want to be safer, but it doesn't seem escapable that hardware vendors (and others, including ISVs and network providers) have some incentive to promote solutions that have [what they consider to be] a better rate of solving the problem satisfactorily.
- jimktrains2 15y ago> Permissions are security theatre. I wouldn't say that. They aren't just there just to be there, they do restrict access. It allows me to choose if I want an app based on what the app wants to know about me. Yes, it can't tell me if an app is malware, but it does tell me if some photo editing app needs to see my address book.