Database Users

Google and privacy

Hello!
I´m interrested in Android as well as in the tm G1.
Now the G1 is announced here in Germany for the second of february.
My problem at the moment is, that I have read and heard, that google is collecting data (everything)! So if you read the "terms and conditions", what do you think about that or don´t you care? I mean they have the rights over everything you load/send/post/get....and more!
How do you handle that fact personally for you?
Greetings!
Carter

That's just the nature of the emphasis on cloud computing. Personally my stance is simply to not conduct any business on my G1 that I would mind Google knowing/datamining. Regardless of what companies claim in their privacy policies, the very best way to 100% guarantee your data will be misused is simply to not willingly give it out.
Edit: also keep in mind that the (potentially) datamining portions of Android generally revolve around those apps and services which are closed-source apps provided by Google that are not a part of the Android Open Source Project. These include for example the Market, GMail, GTalk, and so forth.

ok, I get your point, but what is the G1 without Gmail/Calendar etc.
And thats all google.
Because of the poor response on my question I think that the majority doesn´t care about google´s data collecting hype.
In my eyes their acting is scary....imagine the details they know about you and many many other people....
just my opinion...
Greetz!

They don't collect any personal information. Not only that but they don't have people looking at these records. A computer does all the work, and is only used to find keywords.
Look at this site's search (the one on xda not google) it works by taking every word and putting it in a database and when you search the word it shows the corresponding posts. so post1 has wordA and post2 has wordA and wordB, and when you search for wordB you only get post2. The same concept is in place for google... except it goes one step further. The spider takes out words that are not needed. Well they have been using this for your GMail for sometime as well. It is why they have excellent spam control and it is why google is so awesome. They use the same process to check emails when you click links. Basically they are just trying to find out who uses what sites for what reasons. If they figure out all this they can better help you and the company you were visiting.
Chances are if you are on a site that is doing something illegal Google already knows it exisists.

someone can always watch if they want, on a g1 or PC, or anything connected. Just don't do anything dumb.

i think its obscene and absurd how gung hoe they are with it. If you want access to the playstore gawdam they better have every member of your family and every person you've ever met profiled as well as around the clock location tracking with a serial # and every keystroke on your device. And dont you dare make any attempts to disable any of their spyware or you can kiss YouTube apps and the play store goodbye. Its pathetic what they've done to Android and its users. And the reason it pisses me of the most is because I don't even really use free apps. They're all either paid for or open.

An open letter to Google re: their C&D

I had originally posted this in Development which was the wrong place and understandably it has been removed.
Considering Cyanogen's recent tweets that he has started working on a new rom that won't violate Google's licenses, I wasn't sure I would post the letter but I have received a request. So here it is:
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
U.S.A
26 September 2009
Attn: Android Development
To Whom it May Concern:
Re: Cease & Desist Letter against Steve Kondik aka Cyanogen
I've recently read with considerable chagrin about recent events concerning your actions against Steve Kondik, otherwise known as Cyanogen.
First off, I understand that legally Google has every right to take the actions it has thus far. However, as I am sure you are beginning to see, your actions are bound to have a very negative effect even for yourselves. No one denies that Mr. Kondik overstepped the line when he included applications in his customised ROM that he was not licensed to distribute. Could not your response though have been a little more constructive?
Perhaps a dialog with Mr. Kondik, explaining your concerns and perhaps coming to a settlement that saves face for both privately might have been better? Instead, this ham-handed move by your legal team has effectively stopped the Android mod community dead in its tracks and turned a fan base that was quickly beginning to grow like a yeast culture against you.
I hold some small hope that some compromise can be reached but in all truth I believe Pandora's box is now open and a trust has been broken on both sides.
Will I ride out my contract with my cell phone carrier? Yes, I hold Rogers Canada blameless in all this. Will I "protest" by buying a different phone? Unlikely since it proves nothing other than I have money to throw away. Will I ever buy another Android device? I really don't know at this stage. I feel hurt by this turn of events and can't honestly say I trust Google not to pull some other legal manoeuvre out of their bag of tricks that further cripples my "Google Experience".
You have likely lost someone who evangelised your product, perhaps a great many evangelists.
Sincerely,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Guys Cyanogen just said in IRC that he is backing down and wont be any part of a fight with Google. This cant stop us. even if @Cyanogen is backing down we the community can still pressure Google to change the policy's that stopped cyanogen. We cant give up this soon. please work with me to pressure Google.

i think these threads need to stop being posted. it create a lot of clutter. who care if cyanogen or whoever may not include google exp apps...
cyanogen is developing an app to help reinstall these apps as long as the user has them backed up. this is technically legal.

ahronzombi said:
Guys Cyanogen just said in IRC that he is backing down and wont be any part of a fight with Google. This cant stop us. even if @Cyanogen is backing down we the community can still pressure Google to change the policy's that stopped cyanogen. We cant give up this soon. please work with me to pressure Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
then give google your home address and a copy of a rom you made that contains their closed apps, especially the new market (that ticked them off so much), and see if they do not doing anything to you.
I wish i could quote exactly what steve told you, but here we go to paraphrase
"what movement? start writing code or shut the [email protected]#$ up."
some where in there is a word that means copulation

its fkd up wat google did n all....but come on...its not the end of the fkn world
id hate to be at google though gettin loads n loads of emails from geeks n nerds....and normal ppl too....hahaha..... ppl saying how their feelings are hurt n they feel betrayed hahahaha
leeeeeeeeaaaavvvvvveeeee gooooooggggglllllleeeeee alllllooooonnnneeee hahahaha

Kinds sucks google did that, but yeah, just another bump in the road. Give it time.
Letter looks like fun tho. Maybe I'll change a few things and send them a copy lol, if you dont mind me stealing your words lol.

david1171 said:
then give google your home address and a copy of a rom you made that contains their closed apps, especially the new market (that ticked them off so much), and see if they do not doing anything to you.
I have only had my phone rooted for the last 5 weeks i think,in fact david1171 helped me i think and its the best thing i did with it and have only had
Cyanogen's Roms on it and am delighted because of him and others i know alot more about what my G1 can do and i have also learnt alot more in general
so i am thankful to Cyanogen for his hard work,but as the quote above puts it best. For him it might have to be over for now
so instead of all the posts saying fight google how about a few just saying "Thanks" for what he did do eh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Cyrket

Cyrket is back up
http://www.cyrket.com/
Saurik will be adding back the ability to sort by date when he gets it sorted out.

Nice! It's a much 'cleaner' interface than androlib.com, even if it doesn't have quite as many features. I see they're supporting the Palm catalog now as well. Very cool, as my girlfriend has a Pre Anyone know why they were down for so long? Hopefully Saurik will be able to add more features in the near future.

SpyderMS said:
Nice! It's a much 'cleaner' interface than androlib.com, even if it doesn't have quite as many features. I see they're supporting the Palm catalog now as well. Very cool, as my girlfriend has a Pre Anyone know why they were down for so long? Hopefully Saurik will be able to add more features in the near future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From Twitter
About a week ago, it finally hit me: how to run a ~reasonably~ live Cyrket without being rate limited by Google. A week of no sleep later...[/QUOTE]

SpyderMS said:
Nice! It's a much 'cleaner' interface than androlib.com, even if it doesn't have quite as many features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please send me an e-mail (do not just reply to this forum post: e-mail will be much more useful for me) with a list of features you think are important. The three things on the public todo list (which should be done pretty soon) are: 1) fix the display of permissions, which is simply stupidly broken; 2) get "newest/latest stuff" working again; 3) rewrite the RSS feed mechanism to work with the new site architecture (which requires #2 to be finished first); and 4) allow comments to be browsed in a more meaningful fashion than "show a bunch of comments for this app". There are other features that will likely happen, but those are the only ones I'm saying /are/ to users ;P.

saurik said:
Please send me an e-mail (do not just reply to this forum post: e-mail will be much more useful for me) with a list of features you think are important.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please share your email address?
The ONLY thing I would like to see on Cyrket would be pretty URLs.
Instead of:
http://www.cyrket.com/search?market=android&category=6953
I would like:
http://www.cyrket.com/m/android/applications
Other than that, I think it's a very useful site!

OrganizedFellow said:
please share your email address?
The ONLY thing I would like to see on Cyrket would be pretty URLs.
Instead of:
/search?market=android&category=6953
I would like:
/m/android/applications
Other than that, I think it's a very useful site!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My e-mail address is on every website I run, including Cyrket's home page.
I go to great lengths to make the URLs on Cyrket readable:
/p/android/net.tastybits.heat/icon
However, this anal attitude towards URLs means that I will not make a URL that I can't support going forward. The category tree is simply not stable at this time, nor do I really want it to be considered "stable". However, the category ID numbers in the search URL actually are stable: those nodes I can rearrange and then guarantee I can support old URLs.
(Out of curiosity: why are you even caring about those URLs? The only URLs I'd expect would matter to anyone would be the URLs for the packages themselves, metadata about the packages, and the URL for "newest stuff", which still hasn't been rewritten into the website yet.)
/Please/, however, send me any and all feature requests via e-mail: it would be difficult to make my e-mail address any more public than it is, and I get hundreds of e-mails a day from users, so I'm surprised you couldn't find it. My address is [email protected] (I had to put the (at) because the forum got mad at me).

Well first off, my apologies if what I said came across as 'anal'. After re-reading what I wrote, I can't find where you get that?!
Second, I admit I did not visit your site to look for your email address. I did view your profile here on XDA, but none was available. So. Sorry for that.
Why do I care about pretty URLs?
I talk to alot of people about Android - DumbPhone friends, Android friends, and iPhone friends.
I have tested & reviewed many apps, and share this information with these friends.
In my talks with them, I often tell them about Cyrket, which I prefer over other sites like androidtapp.com or androlib.com due to their complexity (no disrespect meant to either operator of those respective sites).
In my opinion, I just prefer Cyrket with its simpler layout, basic information, and ease of navigation.
The other sites I find 'too much going on'.
Having a pretty URL makes for easier memorizing of a URL. It's also easier to write down later. All this is just easier, faster, better to share with someone else.
As the 'web master' or 'developer' of Cyrket.com, I would have thought you knew all this. Even if it doesn't change, I'm just saying it's a better user experience for visitors to have Pretty URLs throughout the entire site for uniformity.
On a personal note: I just tend to prefer my reference sites which are easy on the eyes with minimal distraction! Just as SpyderMS said in post#2.
SpyderMS said:
Nice! It's a much 'cleaner' interface than androlib.com, even if it doesn't have quite as many features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Other than that, I think it's a very useful site!

OrganizedFellow said:
Well first off, my apologies if what I said came across as 'anal'. After re-reading what I wrote, I can't find where you get that?!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was saying that /I/ was "anal". I seriously spend hours fretting over the URL structure of Cyrket, which is why 99% of the website has such a beautiful URL structure. I dare you to find someone who spends as much time thinking about URLs as I do: that's why I used "anal" to describe myself.
*Sigh*... now that that got misinterpreted, though, the rest of your comment has gone down the "let's be hostile" avenue.
OrganizedFellow said:
Why do I care about pretty URLs?
I talk to alot of people about Android - DumbPhone friends, Android friends, and iPhone friends.
I have tested & reviewed many apps, and share this information with these friends.
In my talks with them, I often tell them about Cyrket, which I prefer over other sites like androidtapp.com or androlib.com due to their complexity (no disrespect meant to either operator of those respective sites).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most of these other sites also have much worse URLs. AppTapp doesn't only because they create vanity URLs for every package they choose to make a review of (which is not practical, nor is it maintainable).
AndroLib:
w~ww.androlib.com/android.application.org-connectbot-BDC.aspx
w~ww.androlib.com/appicon/app-BDC.cs.png
AndroidZoom:
w~ww.androidzoom.com/android_applications/communication/connectbot_rbm.html
c~dn-1.androidzoom.com/logos/8835.png
Cyrket:
w~ww.cyrket.com/p/android/org.connectbot/
c~ache.cyrket.com/p/android/org.connectbot/icon
OrganizedFellow said:
Having a pretty URL makes for easier memorizing of a URL. It's also easier to write down later. All this is just easier, faster, better to share with someone else.
As the 'web master' or 'developer' of Cyrket.com, I would have thought you knew all this. Even if it doesn't change, I'm just saying it's a better user experience for visitors to have Pretty URLs throughout the entire site for uniformity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What I asked was why you needed fast by-memory URL access to a subcategory sort. You managed to find the /one/ thing in Cyrket that currently has a bad URL, and made it an issue about the entire website.
I then explained the reason that one thing has a bad URL and asked you why you felt that specific page had such high-priority for having a better URL, and now you are acting like I don't consider good URLs important.
Frowny pants.
Oh, and OMG I HATE THIS FORUM, I am not even allowed to post URLs to it: please, for the love of all that is holy, send me e-mails in the future if you wish to continue this discussion.

Market F***ing Spam

I have come to a point where I can no longer sit back and watch our system be bombarded with spam apps. It hurts android as a system and will be its downfall, open or not.
I sent tips to Gizmodo, Engadget, BGR, and all others that have can reach a large audience.
I for one am sick and tired of all the bull**** I see in the market. Open system or not, its getting out of hand. I can't be the only one fed up with the situation. To all android users please voice your hatred of people abusing the rules. Just because its not illegal does not make it ethical or allowable
These are a few links to help people realize how bad this problem is and how bad it will become.
Who cares if we have 50,000 apps and upwards of 15,000 are complete crap. There are 20 real offenders with about 1,000 apps each. 1,000!! each. Thats ridiculous.
Almost 50% of our applications do nothing. Absolutely nothing. I love my N! and have been an Android user since the G1. I have watched our open system is being abused and ransacked by idiots.
Anyone else fed up with this do something to fix it rather than sit back.
I know this is not so much about the N1 than it is Android in general, but I wanted people to see it and spread the word.

These are some websites to look at
http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/bwemj/pocket_empires_spamming_android_market/
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=511e1703b32ce3a5&hl=en
http://www.eurodroid.com/2010/02/an...he-day-zeitmann-and-its-deluxe-clock-widgets/
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Android+Market/thread?tid=608e9ca3fc7a80fb&hl=en
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-635400.html

I'd noticed a lot of reviews mentioning Pocket Empire, all across the Market, earlier today, it's a pain in the arse, and highlights the fact that you really can't read just a few comments left, and assume they'll be accurate.

Yes it is totally our of hand. The Pocket Empire developers have been encouraging their users to go to the market and download any and all Free apps they dont have to pay for. Then to leave feedback score of 5 for the unrelated app with a comment promoting their Pocket Empires and a referral code. So as well as the comments being BS so are the star ratings they are leaving, which do not reflect the underlying application.
Here are some threads discussing it.
Nexusone Stop spamming the Android Market Pocket Empire players
People advertise everywhere for "pocket empires"- can this spam be curtailed somehow?
How about all the people who were getting their knickers in a knot about the sentence "this message was not sent by tapatalk" sink their teeth into this one.
It is of far greater significance and has the potential to undermine the android market. The lack of action by google to date on this issue (ie not banning PE) suggests to me that they want the market to self regulate.
So lets get together and do something about this Pocket Empire mob.

Yeah the stupid spam comments about "join pocket empires and receive 100 credits" is really getting annoying, not to mention the complete random and totally useless apps that have been coming onto the market lately.

You can at least use appbrain as an alternative, because it filters out the vast majority of Spam apps. But it cannot filter all the PE Spam comments.

Well yesterday, the dev of Pocket Empires sent an ingame message out saying the following:
Hey everyone. We are laying down a new "dont spam other games" policy due to the amount of spame that's been being spread around. Starting May 1st any comments past that date will have their referral code banned for a week. Thanks for your assumed cooperation and enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like the dev is trying to put a stop to it at least for now.

Sistum Id said:
Well yesterday, the dev of Pocket Empires sent an ingame message.....
Seems like the dev is trying to put a stop to it at least for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes but they are just going through the motions of saying the right thing. Crying Crocodile Tears. How do you honestly think they are going to police their threat of one week bans?
If they were serious about it, they would
1) be telling their users to go back and undo the damage they have done. Which would involve removing spam comments left for other apps AND setting ratings stars to average.
2) removing the referral code system altogether, so that once they no longer can Spam the market they do not just move to every other forum know to man. Such as some smart arse adding a PE referral in this very thread which will no doubt happen soon enough.
I would really like to see Google pull PE from the market altogether for some time as a penalty. But probably wont happen as they want the market to self regulate.
POCKET EMPIRES = POX it must be eradicated

Quick add me on pocket empire!
My code is [email protected]

I'll pay that one ;-)

KnightMAREcrow said:
These are some websites to look at
http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-635400.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I opened that thread over there. What bothers me the most is how easy it would it be for google to give us the tools to crush spam.
From where I see it, there are two distinct problems right now:
1) the spam apps (those by Michael Quach, Zeittman, etc).
The easy solution: allow the users to filter out specific words and developers. Then, if a given number of users filter out a developer, consider him "uninteresting" and relegate his apps to the bottom.
2) the PE spam in other apps and games.
The easy solution: if a given number of users report a given number of posts as spam (e.g. 50 individual users report 50 individual messages) consider them spam and filter out every message that is 90% similar to them (e.g. they have mostly the same words but the referral code changes).
These would be completely automatic and would require absolutely no human interaction on part of Google. It's so easy it makes me want to go to their offices and slap the person in charge in the neck.

I reckon a simpler solution to the PE SPAM with referral codes is as follows:
Restrict feedback entries to known words. So if a user enters anything that is not a word, such as a referral code, serial number or email, then it would get rejected. There is absolutely no reason for legitimate feedback to contain any word or string of characters that is not in a dictionary.

logger said:
There is absolutely no reason for legitimate feedback to contain any word or string of characters that is not in a dictionary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about diminutives, etc? Also, What if I want to point to a related app that is better in my opinion? I have done that in the past.

Fair point.
However, for simplicity, blocking non words would go a long way to fixing the referral code issue, while allowing most feedback. It may be better to point out the shortcomings of an application, than to refer readers to an alternative. I know if I was a developer, I would be annoyed if feedback pointed to a competitors product. I trust I got my point across here, using only common words and no diminutives. Common diminutives could be added to the dictionary in any case.

logger said:
However, for simplicity, blocking non words would go a long way to fixing the referral code issue, while allowing most feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The operative word here being "most". I get your point, but I think self-regulation would be better on the long run. I don't think the best way to fix an annoying situation is to introduce another annoying situation, even if it's less annoying than the first one; and I sure would be pissed if I was writing a comment and the Market rejected it because one of the words I used was not in the dictionary.
logger said:
It may be better to point out the shortcomings of an application, than to refer readers to an alternative. I know if I was a developer, I would be annoyed if feedback pointed to a competitors product
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would be too, but honestly: I don't write comments to please developers, I do it to give other users good advice. Isn't that precisely the point of the comments system?

http://www.appbrain.com/
If you refuse to use it after I've showed you this, or knew about it already and didn't use it, then don't start another thread like this. You have your out.
And please don't use the "we shouldn't have to use a 3rd party app." This is mother####### XDA, we use what we have to in order to get things done quickly and smoothly.

ATnTdude said:
And please don't use the "we shouldn't have to use a 3rd party app." This is mother####### XDA, we use what we have to in order to get things done quickly and smoothly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, let's leave the rest of Android users on their own. We're mother####### XDA, we don't care about things working right or not if we can make them work for US!
Who cares about the health of the Market? Who cares if it deters people from using Android? We're mother####### XDA!

ATnTdude said:
http://www.appbrain.com/
If you refuse to use it after I've showed you this, or knew about it already and didn't use it, then don't start another thread like this. You have your out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course we know about appbrain. Before you go sprouting off, Just read some the feedback comments in http://www.appbrain.com/browse/apps/?apps=free for example Shazam and you will immediately see they are not filtered and that the SPAM comments we have been discussing reside there as well.
Any yes I have asked appbrain if they would consider filtering the SPAM comments from their site. Hopefully they will.

In this instance, I believe the market should regulate itself. There has been enormous growth and with it comes the BS. I'm of the mind to believe this will be addressed.
Legalize it. Don't criticize it.

1) the spam apps (those by Michael Quach, Zeittman, etc).
The easy solution: allow the users to filter out specific words and developers. Then, if a given number of users filter out a developer, consider him "uninteresting" and relegate his apps to the bottom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i agree.. i think the user should be able add any developer to their personal 'blacklist' that will just simply hide them from view in the market.
also, a more in depth search is needed. filter by keywords you want, keywords you dont want, categories, rating, total downloads, active installs, developers country, downloads to time in market ratio, etc, etc... i mean come on how hard is this to implement when your the top search provider in the entire world.
edit: also, this spam crap is hurting the legit devs. without proper filters or search, it is an uphill battle to not fail. i mean, how will the casual user even know your app exists when 50 apps above it and 50 apps below it are all spam.

WallpaperGate may be a conspiracy against Android reputation...

A few blog and newspaper are reporting the discovery disclosed by 2 Apple hacker at blackhat conference. (if they are not apple fanboy then they sure look like they are)
http://mobile.venturebeat.com/2010/...-steals-your-data-was-downloaded-by-millions/
As much as I do care about data security and think that some people may not be careful enough about what they carry on their phone, I dislike reading such story without much proof, I truly hope Google will put an end to this by posting something about it.
The funny part is that the application made by their company (lookout) is asking for MUCH MORE right than the wallpaper they are pinpointing, I am also wondering about their genome project and I am wondering if they used that "virus scanner" to gather application info from the people who used it (that being said without any proof, just my gut feeling exactly like their theory on those wallpaper)
On a more positive side I hope this will raise some people awareness about what they install on their phone even rom's could one day get compromised but I do not think we are there yet...
So the whole point of this post is to ask all the blogger around to get back to those 2 security researcher and ask them to provide proof (source code) of the malware they found so that we can put an end to this story either way...

The more people will switch from the Apple to Android, the more hate and dirt there will be about Android.
It's just getting started.
Personally, it's fun to watch, they gonna lose anyway.

DarkDvr said:
The more people will switch from the Apple to Android, the more hate and dirt there will be about Android.
It's just getting started.
Personally, it's fun to watch, they gonna lose anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do respect apple for bringing some great innovation but I am concerned about the lack of quality coverage I see in some blog and online news paper, I mean nobody seem to have asked proof or a second opinion on quite a few recent post (like the 80% of android user would not buy another one story...)
As for the winner or looser, as long as user win I am fine with this war...

I saw this and it seems like propaganda....they took all the time to write the article but neglected to mention the application name.

britoso said:
I saw this and it seems like propaganda....they took all the time to write the article but neglected to mention the application name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They did publish the name of the app, In fact a LOT of different one since this is simply a program that download wallpaper from various theme. the guy have flooded the market with all of the different theme he offer.
http://www.androidcentral.com/rogue-android app-stealing-data-according-security-firm#comments
If you look at the update they wrote to change a bit the story of what the application does, the developer seem to be a bit lost about this.
Either way if this app is really a malware then they should have contacted google, and they should have published the EXACT description of what they do, instead they talk about their market analysis ...

Some fact, about time!
http://blog.mylookout.com/2010/07/mobile-application-analysis-blackhat/#more-1380
Here's the developer answer so android central http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/35072457
Now let's see if Google has something to say about this WallPaperGate... in the mean time it look like they SUSPENDED all the developer app
Personally I have no problem with those wallpaper app, I do not use lookout tho since I believe it's asking for too much right and I am not convinced it does something at all

How about "flickey wallpaper" ? I use that one, and it rhymes with the listed application.

adambenjamin said:
How about "flickey wallpaper" ? I use that one, and it rhymes with the listed application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey thanks for pointing this program (flikie) it's great!
The right requested by flikie are quite normal so I installed it, I do not use picture as wallpaper usually but I do like to watch them!
Back to the topics, I think the developpers in general should review their apps and make sure they do not ask for undue right!

Application to protect yourself
I personally use aSpotCat to screen what the application are using as right on my nexus one, it is free and allow you to revise the right of installed app
If you know of other app that can prevent malware from spreading please post them

thats how it is in an open system. some people will exploit it.
thats a trade off of the android market.... we will get spyware eventually.

I agree with antikryst... this happens on any platform. Don't look like iPhans and deny the truth and deflect the blame. These guys may or may not have an agenda, but they didn't "seem" to make this stuff up.

I call partly BS
The wallpaper apps in question cannot access your contact's phone numbers, SMS messages or personal information.
Check out the manifest permissions on the apps in question. It is the last item that is the problem.
!Storage
modify Delete
!Your location
coarse (network-based) location
!Network communication
full Internet access
!Phone calls
read phone state and identity
The permission only allows the app to read the IMEI number of your phone (your hardware's unique identifying number), your phone number, and your currently programmed voice-mail number. If you hard coded your voice-mail password as part of your voice-mail number, then they have that too.
They shouldn't be stealing this info, and Google should separate "read phone state" from "read identity", but the stories on this app stating that your SMS's and contacts being stolen and sent to China just plain wrong.

johnp263 said:
They shouldn't be stealing this info, and Google should separate "read phone state" from "read identity", but the stories on this app stating that your SMS's and contacts being stolen and sent to China just plain wrong.
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And, unfortunately, that stemmed from the original article written at VentureBeat being incorrect. The presenters never actually said SMS and browser history were compromised. I know that at least Engadget was contacted and informed that the article at VentureBeat was incorrect, and VentureBeat also corrected their article to indicate that SMSs and browser histories were not being compromised. But at the start, it was too late, and from there, it was a game of telephone.
Here is a blog post by one of the presenters to clarify everything.
http://blog.mylookout.com/2010/07/mobile-application-analysis-blackhat/

amnigo said:
And, unfortunately, that stemmed from the original article written at VentureBeat being incorrect. The presenters never actually said SMS and browser history were compromised. I know that at least Engadget was contacted and informed that the article at VentureBeat was incorrect, and VentureBeat also corrected their article to indicate that SMSs and browser histories were not being compromised. But at the start, it was too late, and from there, it was a game of telephone.
Here is a blog post by one of the presenters to clarify everything.
http://blog.mylookout.com/2010/07/mobile-application-analysis-blackhat/
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Click to collapse
What a douche bag. The initial commentary about the apps was essentially "It's stealing you babies and your babie's babie's babies".
But I guess actually telling what the app actually does is a little less exciting than what they did.