- Posts tagged Security
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Google's lax vetting allows almost any app in the Android market. Unscrupulous developers rejoice.
It collects a user’s browsing history, text messages, your phone’s SIM card number, subscriber identification, and even your voice mail password. It sends the data to a web site […] That site is evidently owned by someone in Shenzhen, China. The app has been downloaded anywhere from 1.1 million to 4.6 million times.
Though the research comes from a maker of Android security software, they've identified what the malicious app does and where the data is sent; the issue is real.
No vetting is perfect. Apple recently approved a flashlight app that housed a tethering application (though it harmed no users). But Apple shows concern about iPhone privacy. The excellent location services in iOS 4 are a great example. I appreciate the work they do on this.
For Android, we can and should excoriate the developers of this particular app, but we should also excoriate Google for barely trying to avoid this sort of thing.
So this is Android:
- Available apps with little curation, and security issues being exploited.
- Multiple OS releases and features that may or may not be coming to your particular hardware.
- Multiple devices from multiple vendors each having vendor-specific software/services (crapware).
- A real possibility that soon running security software will not only be prudent, but a foolish thing not to do.
Do these sound familiar? It's the Windows OS model of the 1990s. Android resembles it more every day.
Gawker on the Six Delusions of Google's Arrogant Leaders
But the CEO's remarks are just the latest in a series of prominent self-righteous statements from Googlers. There have been plenty of similar cases just in the past couple of months alone. It's worth cataloging them, given Google's deep relationship with its millions of users, and given that the Mountain View internet company doesn't seem to be getting any more humble.
While so many are distracted by Google's shiny "free" objects, it's good that others keep an eye on what's going on there.
Thurrott Just Can't Mention Microsoft Without A Crack About Apple
Although the volume of fixes Microsoft announced is reminiscent of what Mac OS X users face from Apple on a far more haphazard scheduleSure, Paul. Whatever. You know what? The first commenter on your post is on to something. It seems kind of a "jacka$$" thing to say. I'm not sure how that's supposed to serve the "Pros" you're ostensibly speaking to.
