Will Google Be the Next to Face Off Against Congress?
Afterward watching both houses of Congress grill Mark Zuckerberg over the way Facebook handles privacy issues, I assume Google will eventually find its way back to Capitol Colina, besides.
Google has dozens of products and a diverseness of privacy settings, merely let's await at Google Maps. I advise everyone to take a gander at the permissions Google requires you to surrender. There are over 10 categories, many repeated two or 3 times for no reason.
When you advisedly scroll down the long list, which includes everything except giving up your firstborn, ask yourself the simple question: Why?
Here are a few things that should catch your heart. Under "Contacts"—a category that shows up twice—it says Google can discover and read your contact list on your telephone; this lets you find someone'due south address on a map by searching their proper name. But the 2d occurrence says that Google tin can find and read and change. Why would Google Maps want to modify your contact list?
Under the "SMS" category, you provide permission for Google to send letters from your phone. It's likely to facilitate features like location sharing, only let's hope it's not used to send incriminating messages, also.
Under "Photos/Media/Files," information technology says Maps can read your USB drive and "modify or delete the contents of your USB storage." This is reportedly so Google "can write map files to your phone" for things like offline access, only the scary wording doesn't inspire confidence.
At the bottom of this huge list, we get downwards to the whoppers. The category is dubbed "Other." Likewise having fifty-fifty more redundant granted permissions already found elsewhere on the list, yous give Google permission to "download files without notification" equally well as "receive data from Internet" as you requite the app "full network access" and the ability to rack up your data bill. Information technology mentions full network access vii times on the same list.
This is compounded past you giving Google permission to "ship sticky broadcast," which refers to intercommunication between apps. Why?
I'm irked that the program tin can likewise control your Android phone's NFC. To me, it seems like that'southward an easy in for hackers.
Wait for yourself (go here > Permissions > View Detail) and you'll come away with a bad feeling. I sure don't not like any of it.
For more, check out How to Go Google to Quit Tracking You.
Almost John C. Dvorak
Source: https://sea.pcmag.com/opinion/20673/will-google-be-the-next-to-face-off-against-congress
Posted by: cheungscalwat.blogspot.com

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