Google removes privacy feature from Android mobile software

[onehandle]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Google Inc has removed an experimental privacy feature from its Android mobile software that had allowed users to block apps from collecting personal information such as address book data and a user's location.

The change means that owners of smartphones using Android 4.4.2, the latest version of the world's most popular operating system for mobile devices released this week, must provide access to their personal data in order to use certain apps.

A company spokesman said the feature had been included by accident in Android 4.3, the version released last summer.

"We are suspicious of this explanation, and do not think that it in any way justifies removing the feature rather than improving it," said Peter Eckersley, technology projects director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The digital rights website first publicized the change in a blog post on Friday.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/13/us-google-android-idUSBRE9BC0YO20131213

---

That free Android phone you got at 7-eleven is watching and tracking you.

[Mosaic]

1. This should have been a no brainer

Don't trust google for anything, don't trust smartphones for anything, and don't trust apps for anything. I hate to see so many fellow citizens become suckers for our totalitarian lost nation. Is there hope, sure, but be sure negativity sells, on all forms of media, and we must not let it overwhelm us.

[Progressive dog]

2. What nation do you live in,

since no Americans could be uninformed enough to believe they live in a totalitarian nation. I don't think it is lost either.

[Mosaic]

3. If we don't reign in the police state

And all the software that is tracking everyone who is a victim to it, we're pretty darn close. A nearly universal corporate media is also a big warning sign. I read a lot, too much maybe, and I know the multitudes of ways how we are, sadly, nearly lost, just nearly.

[Progressive dog]

5. There is no police state here,

but I live in the USA. I have heard over and over about the ability to track, that does not equate to actually tracking. You can easily opt out of any possibility of police tracking your cell phone by just turning it off. Then there is no possibility that it can be tracked. That is pretty simple. The NSA are not police, they are not allowed to track US citizens.
No matter where you live, you have to interact with others and information about you is going to be stored. This is in addition to the information that many share on social media. That does not make a police state.

[astral]

7. you are mistaken .

The NSA does have the right to track us because we cant stop them. Or else, we GAVE them that right bc we were TOLD about it and we didnt stop them. at least not yet. Sure, cellphones make it easier but technology comes from many other angles these days. ''Total informaltion awareness'' is upon us and getting tighter every day. But you do have the right to keep your head in the sand if U want to. You live in a free country.

Start here and go down the rabbit hole yourself. Remember to take your red pill first.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Awareness_Office

[Progressive dog]

12. I have the right to steal everything my neighbor owns,

if he is not at home to stop me. That is the exact reasoning that you are using.
The law does not allow the NSA to track Americans. There are law breakers in the NSA, (Snowden is one example), but that does not equal total information awareness.
Why the hell would the NSA even want information on everyone? That's a rhetorical question and shouldn't need a silly meaningless phrase as an answer.
Which children's book did you get the red pill and rabbit hole from and is that where you got your knowledge of the US main spy agency from?

[reACTIONary]

21. +10 (nt)

[astral]

25. I did not mean to argue semantics here,

They are doing it, 'right' or no 'right.' its all over the news they have ADMITTED it. Only on around Dec 15 a federal judge ruled it wrong, but there has been no announcement yet that they are stopping it. This is a war in progress, very public. This is the America we live in today, wake up and smell the roses we are losing our right to privacy in EVERY facet of our lives and at a very rapid pace.

I am editing this post only to add the link below, whicy may bring you to many other links, it is totally up to you at this point to figure out whether I am a paranoid liar or not, I can only lead a horse to water. I have started seeing the specifics of how deep it really goes already only recently and am still a bit shell-shocked myself.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/12/2013-year-nsas-collect-it-all-strategy-was-revealed

I was trying to copy and paste an excerpt but I cant figure out how to do it on this stupid tablet. Basically is states exactly what I already said, they are tracking everybody's everything, and it is up to us to put a stop to it or not.

[astral]

26. I am very sorry but i dont hit your latest breaking news very often

a ruling has occurred.

Judge Rules NSA Phone Surveillance is Lawful in Case Filed by ACLU

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=682828

[Progressive dog]

28. Ok, then don't argue semantics nt

[Progressive dog]

19. Where do you live that government employees are exempt

from obeying the law? Certainly you do not live in the USA. I'm trying top figure how a free country and a police state are the same. Could you show me another free country that you imagine is a spying state?
BTW None of the paranoids will tell me which children's book they got the rabbit hole and red pills from. If I'm going to take them, I need to know where you get them.

[sendero]

10. You are naive ..

... beyond belief and at some time in the future you will wonder why you were so dumb.

[Progressive dog]

11. Maybe foreign countries have a different definition of police state,

but if you are an American, you are in a very, very small minority. I would bet that more Americans believe the earth is flat.
If you gave me your definition of police state, then there would be something to mock (whoops, meant to discuss).

[Android3.14]

14. Your opinion indicates a variety of possibilities

Except, of course, that a police state is nonexistent in the United States. Anyone with the merest ability to think and observe critically recognizes we have a police state, the tools for a regressive police state, and leaders who are advancing the powers of a police state.
A police state has many characteristics and exists on a spectrum. N. Korea is near the far end of that spectrum and the United States near the other end, but it is still on that spectrum.
It's an iron fist in a velvet glove.
In a lab setting, I'd just advise you to keep poking the happy button in your cage,P-dog.
Anyone who appears incapable of recognizing the police state is either a sucker, lying, congenitally ignorant or willfully ignorant. The only reason the police state doesn't go after you is because you are part of it or are inconsequential to it.

[Progressive dog]

15. Yes the possibilities range from

people who believe the USA is a police state being paranoid Americans to being America hating foreigners.
I can think of no other options.
America is one of the freest states in the world. We've had trial by jury since our founding. We have a written bill of rights since our founding. I assume you know this and that to you all states are police states. That sounds as if you are toward the anarchist side of libertarianism. I thought libertarian anarchists were not usually Democrats.

You can hide in your cave from the NSA if you like, I don't intend to.

[reACTIONary]

22. +100 (nt)

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. Actually, AT&T wants you to PAY to avoid tracking.

`What's one piece of your privacy worth? About a dollar a day, suggests telecom giant AT&T.

The company's latest internet service offering in Austin, Texas comes in two flavors.
The company might as well call them the "some privacy" and "no privacy" services.
The cheaper version gives customers a discount in return for being targeted more intrusively than ever by user-specific advertising.

More details here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024176653

[Mosaic]

24. Here you go dog

I will not be insulted by you. I am a concerned American. You need to read this recent thread and open your eyes.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024175900#post20

[reACTIONary]

20. +10 (nt)

[loudsue]

4. I agree, Mosaic. And I haven't opened a gmail account because of it, even though I was about to.

Have you read the user agreement on that sucker? It's long, but it sure says a LOT about what they intend to do with your private information.

[Mosaic]

23. It is all about the money as many say

We should always remember the Snowden revelations, and realize that this goes further than profiting off people's data. I'll say it once more, we're too darn close in this country to a totalitarian Orwellian big brother society and we must get off our butts and do something, our representatives must do something. This is no joke.

[Skittles]

6. yup

facebook, Twitter, "smart phones" - they love it all, then complain about loss of privacy.....idiots

[defacto7]

8. Agreed...

People walk blindly into a "garden of delights" and have no idea what they are doing or what future they are buying. Wise up people.

[Berlum]

9. "Ha Ha. Do be evil." - Google (R)

[jsr]

13. There is money involved.

[TroglodyteScholar]

16. Damnit.

[jsr]

17. Google and Facebook didn't get rich off user privacy.

[IDemo]

27. No Android, IOS or Windows phone here

My Java-based feature phone does everything I need with no monthly rates or contracts.

[Xithras]

29. iPhone and Android use the same privacy model.

When an app is installed that wants to access your personal data, that data is listed out and you can either approve it or deny it. The new tool was neat because it allowed you to be more selective, but it could only be accessed by a third party app and was used by practically nobody.

I have to say that this is a pretty funny post though. Apple fans attacking Google because they reduced their privacy settings to "only" be equal to Apple's.

It's all about using your head and taking a bit of personal responsibility. If you don't want an app to access your personal information, Don't click OK when the app asks for it!