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by Pmop
2626 days ago
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One of these days, I took some time to analyze network traffic going out of my phone. I wanted to know what was happening behind. I learned that some apps that I wouldn't think of, such as banking, ISP and credit card, were tracking me and sending information to advertising companies! I got angry at some things. For instance, ISP app should provide me information about data consumption and means to buy more. However, it decided to do more things behind the scenes, in addition to doing the tasks it was supposed to in a overly complicated manner—requests travelled back and forth over multiple servers over multiple companies before it did anything. After this exercise, I realized how great it would be if these companies had to provide a clean and well documented API. Users could implement their own apps, liberating themselves from having to trust their private data and resources to companies that would care less if, if allowed. |
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That's why we don't have those APIs. It's not in the interest of any company to make itself more interoperable. This would allow users to develop ways at getting directly what they want and paying the sticker price, without being exposed to all kinds of garbage. Problem is, this very garbage is an important, and sometimes primary way companies make money.
Put another way: most companies aren't your friends, they're here to abuse you. Hold on tightly to the rare ones that are friendly.