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I don't make a habit of persuading people to change their preferences, but a couple of questions: 1. Don't web apps need cookies enabled in your browser, so te

I don't make a habit of persuading people to change their preferences, but a couple of questions: 1. Don't web apps need cookies enabled in your browser, so technically they can still track your browsing history and behavior, at least to some extent? How is that different from your privacy concerns with native apps? 2. How do you think about installing applications on your desktop/laptop computer then, since doing so grants them certain permissions, and not doing so prevents you from doing certain things? 3. More of a comment, than a question. I don't think Facebook will ever ditch their mobile site. Mobile sites are a replacement of the "desktop" site instead of the native app. It's just accessing Facebook via the browser but with a mobile-friendly UI.

jiggy2011 14y ago
An installed application can potentially do a lot more than a cookie. For example, open files on the filesystem, read text messages & phone numbers and upload these to a third party server and sometimes even modify or install other software. The same issues exist with desktop applications of course, for example various spyware toolbars etc so you always have to make some judgement call. The main difference seems to be that when you access a website on your desktop you are much less likely to get some popup nagging you to download a desktop app to consume the content vs a smartphone app. I guess because most desktops are fast enough that you can get reasonable performance from just HTML5 or flash.
leeoniya 14y ago
1. there's a vast difference between a third party simply tracking which sites i visit vs an app having access to my GPS location, address books, call history, etc.., whenever it pleases. with a web browser, i can "share my location" as i desire...if i want to find nearby restaurants on yelp's mobile site, i'll share my location once. with an app you just say "yes, you have permission to read my gps", you have no control of when or how often it does this. 2. on my desktop, there's no guarantee that any specific info will be in the same place. for example i use thunderbird portable in an encrypted container for my email and contacts. on a phone, your contacts are pretty much in the same place and every app knows how to get to them, there's much less variance. 3. you may have a point, but without a good mobile site, they can coerce people to use the app by providing a shitty experience in the browser, cause an app can get to a lot more of your juicy data which they crave.

jiggy2011 14y ago

An installed application can potentially do a lot more than a cookie. For example, open files on the filesystem, read text messages & phone numbers and upload these to a third party server and sometimes even modify or install other software. The same issues exist with desktop applications of course, for example various spyware toolbars etc so you always have to make some judgement call. The main difference seems to be that when you access a website on your desktop you are much less likely to get some popup nagging you to download a desktop app to consume the content vs a smartphone app. I guess because most desktops are fast enough that you can get reasonable performance from just HTML5 or flash.

leeoniya 14y ago

1. there's a vast difference between a third party simply tracking which sites i visit vs an app having access to my GPS location, address books, call history, etc.., whenever it pleases. with a web browser, i can "share my location" as i desire...if i want to find nearby restaurants on yelp's mobile site, i'll share my location once. with an app you just say "yes, you have permission to read my gps", you have no control of when or how often it does this. 2. on my desktop, there's no guarantee that any specific info will be in the same place. for example i use thunderbird portable in an encrypted container for my email and contacts. on a phone, your contacts are pretty much in the same place and every app knows how to get to them, there's much less variance. 3. you may have a point, but without a good mobile site, they can coerce people to use the app by providing a shitty experience in the browser, cause an app can get to a lot more of your juicy data which they crave.