New "Data Safety" alternative runs on the honor system, and that's not good enough:
Last week, Google started more widely rolling out the new "Data Safety" screen in the Play Store, and it made waves in the tech world when we found out that the new section was a replacement for the normal app permissions display, not a new screen in addition to it. After the negative public reaction to the news, the official Android Developers Twitter account promised to revert the change and let the permissions screen display side by side with the new Data Safety display.
"Data Safety" is a new Play Store section that lets developers list what data an app collects, how that data is stored, and who the data is shared with. [...] The app permissions list is a factual, computer-generated record of what permissions an app can request, while the Data Safety section is written by the developer. You can't cheat the app permissions list, while Data Safety runs on the honor system.
[...] Google is a very data-hungry company, and the removal of the permissions screen was one more papercut for people trying to protect their privacy. Reinstating the permissions screen is a Band-Aid fix, and it still seems like Google should just apply its permissions detection to the Data Safety screen and then require developers to add details about why the data is collected and how it's stored. Google already built an automated permissions detection system, and instead of throwing the whole thing out, it could just let developers add details to it.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Opportunist on Tuesday July 26 2022, @06:17AM
Sorry, Google, we found that out a long time ago.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Tuesday July 26 2022, @01:34PM (1 child)
If I have explicitly revoked consent for an App manufacturer to collect a given data, and Google then overwrites my (non) consent, someone is in breach of GDPR?
(Score: 1) by aafcac on Tuesday July 26 2022, @03:16PM
It's gotten slightly better in some respects, but there should never have been the requirement that the app developers alone tell the users what the app is doing. That should always have been in addition to automated scanning of the APIs involved in the app.
In terms of the GDPR, it is a bit of an overreaching law as it claims to regulate people that are solely operating from areas that the EU has no jurisdiction, but in this case it absolutely does apply. Google has a presence in the EU and intentionally markets to residents of the EU. Ignoring or otherwise circumventing user consent should very well result in liability under the rule.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 26 2022, @02:51PM (1 child)
I gave up on Google a long time ago. I have a knockoff android phone. Apps mostly from f-droid. They obscured the app permissions on "Play" making it harder to see what an app needed. They made internet connections default saying it was not even worth mentioning. They turn toggles on and fiddle with privacy settings. They actively prevent users from having root access to their own device. Billions of devices do not have a firewall or connection logging for the excuse that users can't be trusted.
It is worse than Microsoft's efforts with unsecure boot blocking alternative operating systems.
Screw you google. Thanks for the idea and technology. Now bugger off and leave my data alone.
(Score: 2) by bloodnok on Tuesday July 26 2022, @06:56PM
Do have any recommendations?
__
The Major
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Tuesday July 26 2022, @09:01PM (1 child)
My Android phone has no Playstore on it. I suppose that's the ultimate in protecting me from installing malware apps.
Unfortunately, I didn't ask for this situation. The Playstore silently disappeared a week or two ago, and every app that uses Google Play Services no longer works.
And the Playstore is the standard way to install apps, so I have a hard time asking it to please install me a Playstore.
Anyone have any ideas how to get it back?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 27 2022, @03:43AM
Wipe your personal data and put it on ebay as "a google-free, tracking-free smartphone". Use the money to buy an Iphone 11.