Google Just Killed A Vital Privacy Feature In Android. Why?
Google has removed a new privacy feature from the latest version of Android. Be warned, for the disappearance... is alarming news for the Android users.
By Sadho Ram — 14 Dec 2013, 05:20 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
Google 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 Android 4.4.2 update that began to roll out Monday to Google's Nexus devices removed a feature that gave users fine-grained control over app permissions
in.comThe removed feature was called App Ops and was introduced in Android 4.3. It provided an interface from where users could withdraw permissions they gave apps when installing them.
Traditionally, Android users have had to choose between giving an app all permissions it requests or not use it.
computerworld.comThe granular permission control provided by App Ops is something that privacy advocates have long requested, since many apps ask for more permissions than they need to provide their main functionality.
Sorry, Android users — Google isn’t going that extra mile to help you keep your data private after all.
Image via wp.comIn part this is because a lot of apps, especially free ones, bundle advertising libraries that provide a revenue stream for developers. Often the excessive permissions requested by such apps come from those ad libraries.
bgr.com
When asked for comment, Google said that the feature had only ever been released by accident — that it was experimental, and that it could break some of the apps policed by it
But the Electronic Frontier Foundation suggests that App Ops was in full working order; it may have broken an app if you denied a permission that was truly necessary, but the security benefit was worth it.
It's likely that Google did unintentionally release the tool though: it was buried inside of Android, and in order to use it you'd have to enable it through a third-party app specifically built to do so.
theverge.com
Now the Electronic Frontier Foundation is criticizing Google for the removal, saying that it constitutes a serious privacy issue for Android.
pcmag.com
The tool allowed Android users to turn on and off individual permissions that an app requested, allowing them to deny those that they would rather not grant
"The fact that [Android users] cannot turn off app permissions is a Stygian hole in the Android security model," Eckersley writes.
bgr.com
"The disappearance of App Ops is alarming news for Android users," Peter Eckersley, the EFF's technology projects director, writes in a blog post.
Even so, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is now pushing for Google to re-release App Ops alongside a number of improvements to it
"A moment ago, it looked as though Google cared about this massive privacy problem," Eckersley writes. "Now we have our doubts."
venturebeat.com
Properly releasing App Ops would certainly be welcomed by many Android users as a way to mitigate privacy concerns.
theverge.com
Knowing that Google is holding back a functional — albeit potentially troublesome — security feature though will likely further frustrate the very users who'd love to take advantage of it.