back to article Consumers getting cagier about mobile app privacy

Mobile users are getting a lot smarter about what they are willing to share with application developers, with over half deciding against downloading an app because of the information it sought to harvest. The latest research conducted by the Pew Internet Project surveyed over 2,500 US cell and smartphone users, and found that …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Probably a function of more personal and important data being held on a smartphone as opposed to the "I just want to make phone calls" tribe.

    Nice to see people taking more care though...a good trend.

    1. LarsG
      Meh

      The developers should

      Get the hint, that they would sell more aps make more money if they stopped the demand to harvest all our details.

  2. Gene Cash Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Yup

    Just had a stopwatch & timer app try to add the "full internet access" permission. Needless to say, it'll sit in manual update hell until Satan starts throwing snowballs. The developer put up a note saying "there is nothing sinister about this update"

  3. Stuart Ball

    I stopped updating Uno when it started to want address book access. Not necessary!

  4. paulf
    FAIL

    Built in app permissions

    Does this new found awareness of app permissions mean users will start questioning built in apps that request more permissions than they sensibly require?

    The built in HTC Sense apps (like the weather widget, and the stocks widget) all seem to require EVERY permission Android has to offer. Exactly why does a clock app need to know who I am, what tasks I'm running, and the FULL CONTENTS of my contacts book?

    At least they can be disabled, but it would be nice if they asked from the outset, rather than assuming the answer is "Yes, you can, help yourself!"

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