[wouterinho]

It is funny how things change when you use the physical world metaphor. There was a campaign recently by the Dutch regulatory agency that made people aware of the implications of allowing permissions in "free" apps.

They made an (anecdotal) video by promising a free cup of coffee in exchange for your contact list on your phone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYXM56YJWSo (Dutch unfortunately)

[WA]

Nice video.

My wife has an Android phone, I have an iPhone. Recently, I wanted to install some app on her phone and it is still beyond my understanding, why Google still doesn't allow to deny certain permissions. It's all or nothing.

And no, a fucking video editor shouldn't require access to my contacts, my browsing history and the accounts on my phone.

Android imho is unusable until they let me deny certain permissions, because often, the "best" apps ask for basically everything.

[WillKirkby]

As of 6.0 Marshmallow, you can disable any permission you want. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZqDdvhTZj0

[mike-cardwell]

Install Cyanogenmod, or buy a phone with it pre-installed like a OnePlus, then you get "Privacy Guard" in the settings which lets you specify exactly what data apps can access.

Android isn't the problem. Google is the problem.

[edit] As in, you can restrict access to things like location, contacts, calendar etc.

[kelseydh]

That reminds me a lot of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7pYHN9iC9I

Would be great to make one similar combining the two concepts in regards to sharing phone data.

[Borating]

Check the Mozilla campain "The Hidden Business of the Internet" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcUOEP7Brc

[jacquesm]

That video is brilliant. Thank you.

'Please plug in your phone here, we need to get some data from it'

'Huh?'

[Borating]

See this one [1] from mozilla

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LcUOEP7Brc

[Kristine1975]

Well-made video. Although hosting it on Youtube (Google) is somewhat ironic.

[jacquesm]

If that wasn't posted to HN yet you should.