On Tue, 24 Mar 2015 09:02:46 -0400, Boron Elgar
> wrote:

>On Tue, 24 Mar 2015 12:40:33 -0000, "Ophelia"
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>"Nancy Young" > wrote in message
...
>>> On 3/24/2015 8:00 AM, Ophelia wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Boron Elgar" > wrote
>>>
>>>>> OH - that Ellen app? This is what it tracks and has access to....
>>>>>
>>>>> In-app purchases
>>>>> Identity
>>>>> find accounts on the device
>>>>> Photos/Media/Files
>>>>> modify or delete the contents of your USB storage
>>>>> read the contents of your USB storage
>>>>> Camera
>>>>> take pictures and videos
>>>>> Microphone
>>>>> record audio
>>>>> Other
>>>>> full network access
>>>>> view network connections
>>>>
>>>> WOW!!! Do you use any apps or does that kind of knowledge put you off?
>>>
>>> Well, perhaps I'm just paranoid, but the sneaky stuff that apps
>>> take it on themselves to access does put me off. I doubt the
>>> apps are actually doing half the stuff the terms say they can,
>>> but why do they need it? Is all that just a byproduct of being an
>>> app or do they deliberately include code that accesses all those
>>> functions?
>>
>>I think Boron might be able to tell us?
>
>There are often two reasons why the permissions are requested - one is
>to perform the function of the app, the other is to better "flesh out"
>you behavioral data to sell it to the highest bidder.
>
>Take Groupon, for example, which is a US app/company that offers up
>discounts and coupons for local businesses. It sells your data for 20%
>more to advertisers if it is tracking you by GPS on your phone, so the
>ads can be more finely targeted. It also pulls your GPS data every 5
>minutes to do so. You can go in and turn it off in some cases, Groupon
>may be one of them, but it means turning off GPS on your phone
>altogether, not just doing so for the app, which does not give you an
>option. That GPS data suck can affect battery life in some phones,too.
>
>Again, one could consider it a quid pro quo if what the app does for
>you is really somethign you like, but it is also savvy to be aware
>just what data the app is sucking up and selling. And once again I say
>that this becomes a problem when the company changes its privacy
>policy, gets sold to another company or just does not guard its data.
>
>I have seen INDIVIDUAL print outs of data collection from mobile
>phones from users who have opted in for some app or program. I could
>plot that person's travels during the time frame by lat/long from a
>GPS conversion program. I have seen the list of every web site that
>person visited, ever bit of music listened to, every phone call made/
>received, every photo taken, every email sent, every text MSG in and
>out, every app used (includes things like ) - it goes on and on.
>
>Boron

And yet the police need a warrant to obtain much the same info?
Janet US