Android needs to fix the way the permission system works. As it stands now, all permissions are asked upfront at installation time where the user has no data available to make an informed decision.<p>Also, the fact that apps only auto-update when the permissions required don't change produces all the incentive for app developers to just ask for everything. After all, most conscious users will find something they object to at install time anyways and thus might not install and most people don't read the dialog anyways, so not much to lose.<p>But even when android changes to ask for permissions as they are required (which could be done in a backwards compatible way by not throwing exceptions but just pretending that whatever API call you just made has succeeded, but then doing mothing or returning meaningless/no data), this still would not help with a malicious app asking nicely with a legitimate reason ("let me access your SMS to read the login token") and then using that permission for illegitimate uses ("let me upload all your SMS to my server").<p>Even with all these permissions, it still boils down to trust and where on the desktop world, this trust was rarely abused, in the mobile world between all the built-in adware and social integrations, that trust is badly hurt.
> What honest and useful reason can Facebook have to get access to my texts? Seemingly they’re running with the “It will help us target better” message.<p>A Facebook engineer explained this permission on Reddit when the story first broke. They are using SMS access to speed up two-factor authentication. (They send an SMS to your phone, and then read it automatically.)<p>Full explanation here: <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1t5z45/facebook_why_the_hell_do_you_think_its_okay_to/ce4y6x2" rel="nofollow">http://www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/1t5z45/facebook_why_the...</a><p>Should this information comfort you? It depends on if you trust Facebook.
I mean, the permissions do have reasonable explanations - using your contact list to 'find friends'- for instance, or writing to your call log because they're integrating VoIP calling (I assume). The wording is just a generic Android permission explanation and comes with any app which requests that permission. If you really can't cope with it, there are apps like Tinfoil which allow you to still use facebook without that added functionality and permission requirement.<p>A good improvement for Android would be the ability to only request permission when it's required for some key permissions (the way iOS does with contacts (I think)). Enable SMS integration in messages? Android pops up a thing saying 'Facebook wants to be able to read your SMS and MMS messages. Cool?'. UAC for Android.
This article is an excellent case study of what happens when engineers communicate through lawyers and a coarse-grained permissions system.<p>The engineer at Facebook wants to be able to send the phone a message so as to authenticate the validity of a phone number. She writes an Android app to do this. To get the text messages, she has to request the READ_SMS permission, so she does.<p>Meanwhile, the lawyers at Facebook are paid to protect the company from unnecessary liability. They decide to write a ToS that says they can do anything; that way, if they do something you don't like, you can't sue them, thus protecting the company from liability.<p>Later, some other engineer comes along and puts these two pieces of information together. READ_SMS!? They can do anything they want!? They <i>must</i> be up to something shady!<p>Turns out: nope! Just a miscommunication.<p>The real innovation in our field that I hope to see in the next few years is the right balance among the following concerns:<p>* Ease of use, even among non-technical users.<p>* Security from malicious applications / extensions / apps / etc.<p>* The service provider's desire to not be sued.<p>* The user's desire to not have his privacy violated.<p>If you give everything fine-grained permissions, you'll have to be a software engineer to understand how to use the application. If you don't have any permissions, every Flappy Bird clone will subscribe you to paid SMS services. If the service provider claims to be liable for privacy breaches that they didn't intend, then they'll have to prove, in court, at great cost, that they're not to blame, every time any of their billion users complains. If the service provider claims to be able to do anything, the user will assume that they're reading all of his email to pick stocks and get some good info for stealing his girlfriend.<p>So it's clear that the extremes don't work. What we need to find is what does work. This write-up shows how one non-extreme balance doesn't work. Let's find another one and try again!
He doesn't own my ass, I don't have a Facebook/Instagram/whatsapp/(whatever Facebook owns or will own) account and never will. I'll never need to, just as people never needed to 10 years ago, Nor will I ever have any oculus rift thingy on my head. So there, he doesn't own my ass!
And when Facebook starts buying people's asses for 10 billion bucks, I still won't sell mine :)<p>Edit: and if one day Facebook owns the internet, then I'll buy a farm, grow veggies and get off the "grid". I'll become a "nature growth hacker" ( remember you saw it here first!).
Indeed. Facebook has a repeated pattern of going too far infringing people's privacy and then apologizing [1], so why would anybody trust them not to abuse the permissions once they've been granted?<p>I just got a new Android phone and it was an easy decision not to install the Facebook app.<p>[1] <a href="http://allthingsd.com/20111129/the-apologies-of-zuckerberg-a-retrospective/" rel="nofollow">http://allthingsd.com/20111129/the-apologies-of-zuckerberg-a...</a>
There is a very simple solution: Don't use facebook. It sucks anyway. There is absolutely no need for you to own an account.<p>// Normal 20-something year old
This is a great reason why the iOS permissions model is miles better. It's not perfect, but it's a far more logical and friendly approach than the all-or-nothing approach that Android uses.<p>I hate the Android model. On my Android devices, I've declined many installs that I have happily made on my iOS devices because of overzealous permission requests made by the Android version. Being able to grant those permissions as needed and revoke them without removing the app entirely is awesome and why Google has avoided implementing it in Android to date is beyond me.
If I recall correctly, the SMS permission is so that the app can read the code that facebook sends to your phone to confirm that you own the number that you're trying to link to your facebook account. Another app that I know of that does this is TextSecure, to register your number with their servers, but then again that's a text messaging app, so I'd expect it to be reading my text messages.
I feel it is worth mentioning that if any app scrapes SMS messages they could also scrape messages sent that don't just contain personal information, but which also contain personal financial information (i.e. bank statements or transaction notifications). Many jurisdictions have harsh punishments for accessing / storing financial information (with requirements on where the information is stored, for how long, regulatory approvals, etc) far in excess of punishments for violating 'normal' personal information privacy laws.<p>I'm sure Facebook are aware of this. All app developers should be too.
Here's facebooks response as to why the android app requires what it does. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/help/210676372433246" rel="nofollow">https://www.facebook.com/help/210676372433246</a><p>I think this article is sensationalist garbage with no proof of facebook mistreating user data.
Does FB require similar permissions on iOS?<p>Also, the permissions they ask for seem like FB is angling to figure out a way to play a bigger role in your life and not just restricted to advertising such as sending out a text or placing calls to most frequently dialed numbers when they figure out that you've been in an accident.<p>But is seems more likely that the US govt. to do any of the following if they make new laws that are an iterated version of the FISA, etc. laws that give them unrestricted access without any need for disclosure:<p>> Someone is lost, kidnapped, in an accident, law enforcement can figure out ways to subpoena this information.<p>> Send fake texts or calls on your behalf and then use that as grounds to detain / question / imprison you.<p>> Data mine text information to figure out if a revolution is happening in a dissident country and perpetuate this by sending texts to a wider network (similar to starting a local twitter clone in Cuba). If this is a friendly country, you can warn your allies and have these people held as political prisoners in countries such as Saudi Arabia, etc.<p>> Lots of other scary scenarios.
This is exactly why I would never install facebook's app (or any other such bloatware crap that does nothing the website can't). Access SMS, camera and location? Fuck no. Android also deserves part of the blame though for not having a way to allow/deny permissions and prevent apps from running as background service when they don't need to.
I often go to install an app but then abort when it asks for what I consider to be overreaching permissions for what the app is. I'm sure the majority of the apps need the permissions for a valid reason that isn't nefarious, however, the end result should be the user's decision. This all or nothing approach is maddening and ridiculous. Simply allow the end user to selectively accept and deny permissions and require app developers to handle the cases when the permission they are asking for are denied. I would feel much better and buy/install a lot more apps.
One could say that required permissions there are just for reading the SMS confirmation codes and easing that friction, in which situation they're actually enabler of better security of your account.
It's important to note that this is not just a Facebook problem - though Facebook may have the largest install base of affected applications.<p>Many applications on Google Play ask for excessive rights - I always presumed this was being pushed by mobile advertising services.<p>I think it's an important issue for Android, as most users are unaware of or careless with these things, and it's just one high profile (perceived) abuse example away from seriously damaging Android's reputation as a platform.
Anybody using Tinfoil for Facebook, s wrapper over the mobile FB website? It allows greater privacy and you never have to worry about your SMS or pictures.
> <i>But check out the exact wording of the SMS/MMS Permission, and that of the Contacts one.</i><p>It's impossible to word it in any different way, no matter what you want to do with messages - even if your code is written to read message from one specific number and not even do anything with it the permission text will stay the same. This is text that was set by google.<p>> <i>What honest and useful reason can Facebook have to get access to my texts?</i><p>If the author googled it he would would have noticed official facebook page that explains the permission used. It's used <i>only</i> to confirm your phone number - if you want to.<p>> <i>Yet as I say time and time again, this has to be opt-in</i><p>Android permissions don't allow opt-in, or opt-out for that matter.<p>> <i>All it wants are numbers, pure and simple, and the data that comes with these numbers to sell to the highest bidder.</i><p>Use something equivalent of privacy settings in CM, I think they're using the AppsOps (sp?) and you'll see that non of the data was even accessed let alone sold to highest bidder.<p>_____<p>This article is unresearched, paranoid, bullshit.
I'd like to see optional permissions. I'd like to be able to deny facebook the ability to read my SMS. I would happily do 2-step authentication manually if it meant that they couldn't read my texts. I don't have a lot of experience developing with android but this seems like smaller change than other suggestions, like granular permissions.
I have App Ops on my phone and Facebook app installed for a while. It says Facebook app read contacts recently. But it 'never used' other sensitive permissions, like read messages, call log etc. I agree that Facebook app probably should inform us why it actually needs these permissions.
In 20 years are our children's children going to ask us old people what privacy was when they see it in a book somewhere?<p>Sometimes I wonder what we're leaving the next generation. I'd love to change it if anyone has some realistic ideas.