Good link, thanks. I have to say I agree with everything on this list, but this is the big one for me: This honestly feels like a really basic feature and it feels weird that neither I nor Google...
Good link, thanks. I have to say I agree with everything on this list, but this is the big one for me:
Android should let users deny and revoke apps' Internet permissions
This honestly feels like a really basic feature and it feels weird that neither I nor Google thought of this before, but having it pointed out to me now it feels almost like a necessity.
On iOS you can prevent specific apps from using mobile data, but perplexingly, you can't do the same thing with wifi. I think the reason is ads. There are a few free games I like to play while...
On iOS you can prevent specific apps from using mobile data, but perplexingly, you can't do the same thing with wifi.
I think the reason is ads. There are a few free games I like to play while commuting by bus, all of which I have toggled off mobile data for. As soon as I get home and connect to wifi, the same apps become ad-filled messes, auto-playing loud videos and taunting me with small, hard-to-see and harder-to-tap close buttons that only appear after a delay (and never in a predictable place). Apple wouldn't dream of prohibiting this because $$$, but I guess the mobile data toggle is a concession that most people still have cell bandwidth restrictions to consider.
Good luck to the EFF on this one, all of these seem like well-considered requests but it's hard to imagine any of these companies acquiescing.
You should try to set up a Pi-Hole at home, it's pretty great and gives me the complete opposite experience: I only ever see ads on my phone when I'm out anywhere and on mobile data, but when I'm...
You should try to set up a Pi-Hole at home, it's pretty great and gives me the complete opposite experience: I only ever see ads on my phone when I'm out anywhere and on mobile data, but when I'm at home, every device on wifi has all ads blocked.
I've been considering it for a while! I'm about due for a new RPi project and it's at the top of my list. I have a gut-level fear that a dedicated device killing n% of my web traffic automatically...
I've been considering it for a while! I'm about due for a new RPi project and it's at the top of my list. I have a gut-level fear that a dedicated device killing n% of my web traffic automatically is going to break stuff, but I haven't actually encountered anybody complaining about that. So I should probably just take the plunge already.
I can only recall hitting one or two issues with mine, and when you do it's quite easy to just go into the web interface, see what was blocked recently, and whitelist it if it seems like you might...
I can only recall hitting one or two issues with mine, and when you do it's quite easy to just go into the web interface, see what was blocked recently, and whitelist it if it seems like you might need to. Not really the sort of thing that a non-technical person could do easily, but there's also a straightforward "Disable for X minutes" function they could use to just temporarily turn it off if it seems to be causing issues.
I rarely ever browse it anymore because of that, and it's got so many administration and management issues alone to drive away a lot of people, but it's also the single biggest community of its...
I rarely ever browse it anymore because of that, and it's got so many administration and management issues alone to drive away a lot of people, but it's also the single biggest community of its kind so it's hard to leave completely. Started my own site to compete with it but all the people are still just over there.
Well, this isn't entirely true. YouTube, Facebook, & Twitter all serve ads from their own content servers. Pi-Hole, being a purely DNS resolution service, can't tell the difference between them....
Well, this isn't entirely true. YouTube, Facebook, & Twitter all serve ads from their own content servers. Pi-Hole, being a purely DNS resolution service, can't tell the difference between them.
Get AdGuard Pro. I think it was $3.99. It blocks ads by setting up a local VPN, so all ad traffic requests just end up back at the device. Works great for almost all ads except Youtube and a few...
Get AdGuard Pro. I think it was $3.99. It blocks ads by setting up a local VPN, so all ad traffic requests just end up back at the device. Works great for almost all ads except Youtube and a few others. That said, if an app has a pro version with no ads, you should really pay for it if you use it a lot.
You kind of have to trust that the VPN provider isn't doing its own scraping of your DNS requests and unencrypted content submissions. If I really wanted to go down that rabbit hole, I'd be...
You kind of have to trust that the VPN provider isn't doing its own scraping of your DNS requests and unencrypted content submissions.
If I really wanted to go down that rabbit hole, I'd be setting up Snort rules or a PiHole.
AdGuard Pro it NOT a real VPN. It does NOT install any profile or certificate. Instead, it uses a public API (NEPacketTunnelProvider) to configure a local VPN tunnel and intercept the outgoing DNS requests. The code of AdGuard Pro is open and available on Github.
Android developer here. Internet access used to be a permission you'd ask for when the app installed, much like access to the camera or filesystem. In Marshmallow, Google switched to runtime...
Android developer here.
Internet access used to be a permission you'd ask for when the app installed, much like access to the camera or filesystem.
In Marshmallow, Google switched to runtime permissions, meaning apps have to ask (in the moment) when they want permission. Google decided at the same time to make the internet permission default, so all apps get it.
I actually don't believe this was a malicious move. I believe their explanation at the time was that internet access is so fundamental to apps that it'd be a hassle to have to request permission all the time for it. Also many apps would cease to function without it.
That said, the capability to shut off internet access for an app is still in the OS. So I support this request, too! It'd be nice to both grant access automatically (to avoid the hassle it'd create otherwise) but also let users revoke it if they wish.
Google absolutely thought of it before. It's been thrown at them so many times. They gave a lame almost nonsensical response, the real reason probably being that taking away internet means taking...
Google absolutely thought of it before. It's been thrown at them so many times. They gave a lame almost nonsensical response, the real reason probably being that taking away internet means taking away ad metrics or something like that.
Honestly, I'd imagine it's more just that Google (obviously) doesn't care about your privacy, and it's not worth their time building this feature in with nothing to gain.
Honestly, I'd imagine it's more just that Google (obviously) doesn't care about your privacy, and it's not worth their time building this feature in with nothing to gain.
Having dealt with the internet permission in Android code before it was given by default (you used to have to declare that your app required the internet as a permission), the infrastructure...
it's not worth their time building this feature
Having dealt with the internet permission in Android code before it was given by default (you used to have to declare that your app required the internet as a permission), the infrastructure already exists. It's a toggle flip and a little QA.
Good link, thanks. I have to say I agree with everything on this list, but this is the big one for me:
This honestly feels like a really basic feature and it feels weird that neither I nor Google thought of this before, but having it pointed out to me now it feels almost like a necessity.
On iOS you can prevent specific apps from using mobile data, but perplexingly, you can't do the same thing with wifi.
I think the reason is ads. There are a few free games I like to play while commuting by bus, all of which I have toggled off mobile data for. As soon as I get home and connect to wifi, the same apps become ad-filled messes, auto-playing loud videos and taunting me with small, hard-to-see and harder-to-tap close buttons that only appear after a delay (and never in a predictable place). Apple wouldn't dream of prohibiting this because $$$, but I guess the mobile data toggle is a concession that most people still have cell bandwidth restrictions to consider.
Good luck to the EFF on this one, all of these seem like well-considered requests but it's hard to imagine any of these companies acquiescing.
You should try to set up a Pi-Hole at home, it's pretty great and gives me the complete opposite experience: I only ever see ads on my phone when I'm out anywhere and on mobile data, but when I'm at home, every device on wifi has all ads blocked.
I've been considering it for a while! I'm about due for a new RPi project and it's at the top of my list. I have a gut-level fear that a dedicated device killing n% of my web traffic automatically is going to break stuff, but I haven't actually encountered anybody complaining about that. So I should probably just take the plunge already.
I can only recall hitting one or two issues with mine, and when you do it's quite easy to just go into the web interface, see what was blocked recently, and whitelist it if it seems like you might need to. Not really the sort of thing that a non-technical person could do easily, but there's also a straightforward "Disable for X minutes" function they could use to just temporarily turn it off if it seems to be causing issues.
It did kill one site for me, but it's one of those sites that lets you on for like 30 seconds and kicks you off if the ads haven't loaded by then.
I don't know what site that is, but I'd say "good riddance!"
I rarely ever browse it anymore because of that, and it's got so many administration and management issues alone to drive away a lot of people, but it's also the single biggest community of its kind so it's hard to leave completely. Started my own site to compete with it but all the people are still just over there.
Well, this isn't entirely true. YouTube, Facebook, & Twitter all serve ads from their own content servers. Pi-Hole, being a purely DNS resolution service, can't tell the difference between them.
Source: Also own Pi-hole.
Of course the companies won't. The sad truth is, they don't give one shit about us users.
Get AdGuard Pro. I think it was $3.99. It blocks ads by setting up a local VPN, so all ad traffic requests just end up back at the device. Works great for almost all ads except Youtube and a few others. That said, if an app has a pro version with no ads, you should really pay for it if you use it a lot.
You kind of have to trust that the VPN provider isn't doing its own scraping of your DNS requests and unencrypted content submissions.
If I really wanted to go down that rabbit hole, I'd be setting up Snort rules or a PiHole.
There is no VPN provider. From AdGuard developers:
Android developer here.
Internet access used to be a permission you'd ask for when the app installed, much like access to the camera or filesystem.
In Marshmallow, Google switched to runtime permissions, meaning apps have to ask (in the moment) when they want permission. Google decided at the same time to make the internet permission default, so all apps get it.
I actually don't believe this was a malicious move. I believe their explanation at the time was that internet access is so fundamental to apps that it'd be a hassle to have to request permission all the time for it. Also many apps would cease to function without it.
That said, the capability to shut off internet access for an app is still in the OS. So I support this request, too! It'd be nice to both grant access automatically (to avoid the hassle it'd create otherwise) but also let users revoke it if they wish.
Opt-out solves both issues, yes.
Google absolutely thought of it before. It's been thrown at them so many times. They gave a lame almost nonsensical response, the real reason probably being that taking away internet means taking away ad metrics or something like that.
Honestly, I'd imagine it's more just that Google (obviously) doesn't care about your privacy, and it's not worth their time building this feature in with nothing to gain.
Having dealt with the internet permission in Android code before it was given by default (you used to have to declare that your app required the internet as a permission), the infrastructure already exists. It's a toggle flip and a little QA.
Hm... well maybe the reason seriously is they don't want people using it to get out of viewing google ads or something
Bingpot
Brooklyn nine-nine? Haha.
This isn't a thing ? I'm on android 6 and it's an option. Is it a manufacturer setting ?
Where is <insert names of big 5 telco companies> should stop serving robocalls because goddamnit it's time already.