Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Privacy Feature Removed with Android 4 4 2 Update
App Ops is the privacy feature on Android, which allowed users to block apps from collecting personal data such as location and address book information. It was first found on the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update and now, Google has removed the experimental feature with the 4.4.2 update. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) reported the silent removal of the App Ops privacy feature by Google with the current android update rolling out for the Nexus devices.
Google commented that it was an experimental feature and its release was merely an accident. The feature was termed as a popular and useful tool to install apps. The EFF wrote that Google could have improved the feature instead of removing it altogether and it is an alarming news for Android users. Peter Eckersley of the EFF wrote: “The fact that they cannot turn off app permissions is a Stygian hole in the Android security model, and a billion peoples data is being sucked through. Embarrassingly, it is also one that Apple managed to fix in iOS years ago.”
Google commented that it was an experimental feature and its release was merely an accident. The feature was termed as a popular and useful tool to install apps. The EFF wrote that Google could have improved the feature instead of removing it altogether and it is an alarming news for Android users. Peter Eckersley of the EFF wrote: “The fact that they cannot turn off app permissions is a Stygian hole in the Android security model, and a billion peoples data is being sucked through. Embarrassingly, it is also one that Apple managed to fix in iOS years ago.”
