Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by djrogers 2877 days ago
> I wrote an Android app [1] that intercepted those SMS messages and parsed out the relevant bits.

Sounds like a nice hack, but at a meta level, I find the idea that a mobile platform even allows an app to ‘intercept’ SMS messages to be a little troubling.
1 comments
TomMarius 2877 days ago
Well, it doesn't. You have to do a lot of things in order to allow it that it's impossible to not know exactly what you're doing. I think it's positive that I am in control of my device when I want to.
link
jsjohnst 2877 days ago
Actually there are quite a few popular Android apps that bulk harvested SMSes, so your point in defense of its security is rather weak.
link
TomMarius 2877 days ago
But that was in the past, right? Current version shouldn't allow it unless user explicitly agrees.
link
jsjohnst 2876 days ago
It was permissioned before too. The general population mostly doesn’t understand what they are giving up when they agree to that when an app asks.
link
loisaidasam 2875 days ago
A few things -

1. In order to achieve this functionality, the app explicitly requires permission to receive SMS [1] [2]

2. I agree that the general population likely isn't fully aware of the implications of granting permissions for such things. Having said that, I think that privacy/security/transparency is one of the things constantly being worked on with subsequent Android OS updates [3] [4], and I think that things are getting better.

Personally, I don't grant access to sensors like microphone/camera/location to apps that I don't want using them (most apps), and I think people should be aware of potential hazards here. Then again, people are openly inviting Amazon Alexa and Google Home into their homes ...

On the other hand, as a developer I like having the ability to build this, for me, and potentially for others who find use for what I wrote, with full transparency/visibility into the source.

[1] https://github.com/loisaidasam/poor-mans-money-counter/blob/...

[2] https://developer.android.com/reference/android/Manifest.per...

[3] https://www.android.com/security-center/

[4] https://www.android.com/versions/pie-9-0/

link