[bdg]

I think I read about this in a book once...

"The iPhone received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it, moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the helpful sign suggested, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being checked-in on social media any given moment. How often, or on what system, the service provider plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they included everybody all the time. But at any rate they could connect you whenever they wanted to. You had to live -- did live, from habit that became instinct -- in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized."

[happyscrappy]

It is fairly ironic that you use iPhone in your example considering that with side loading and permission over reach any talented hacker can access an Android phone to the level you describe while you would almost have to be a nation state to pull it off on a non-jailbroken iPhone.

[untog]

with side loading and permission over reach

a non-jailbroken iPhone

You don't think it's a little unfair to compare a sideloaded (thus, compromised) Android phone with a non-compromised, non-jailbroken iPhone?

[Karunamon]

Jailbroken and sideloaded APKs do not equate to "compromised".

[untog]

They do not equate to it, but they can cause it. In the example the OP was giving the phone would have been compromised by a side-loaded app. Quite possible.

[happyscrappy]

Side-loading and non-jailbroken are the defaults. Google is warning everyone to only download from the Play Store but few pay attention and everyone wants something for free.

[leoedin]

Every android phone I've owned has required me to check a box hidden in the settings before I could install from outwith the Play store. My current phone gives me an additional pop-up warning that this is a security risk which I have to agree to before it will enable side-loading.

Ultimately you can't completely protect users from their own stupidity. You have to make the security vs usability tradeoff somewhere. I appreciate that my phone allows me to manually install applications - it is in fact one of the reasons I chose it.

[XorNot]

Yes because clearly no major company would want to spy on you through its official app...

[Create]

Then you may have missed a break in the third quarter of the telecast of Super Bowl XVIII by CBS. Advertising Age placed it on the top of its list of 50 greatest commercials.