Do Permissions Work?
December 21, 2019 2:26 PM Subscribe
I decided I wanted a dumb phone b/c based on the news reports, the apps on my smartphone may be collecting and reselling info about me and I want that to stop (I settled on a Motorola F3, hundreds of dollars cheaper than the Light Phone 2). But my phone store employee showed me how to deactivate permissions to reduce sharing.
I seem to remember in many of the user agreements, however, that companies and app providers may continue to pull information no matter what kind of privacy I choose for myself. Is this true? Do my permission selections, whether on my smartphone, on social media (like Facebook) or anywhere really mean anything?
I seem to remember in many of the user agreements, however, that companies and app providers may continue to pull information no matter what kind of privacy I choose for myself. Is this true? Do my permission selections, whether on my smartphone, on social media (like Facebook) or anywhere really mean anything?
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Yes.
> Do my permission selections [...] on my smartphone [...] really mean anything?
No.
Except for a handful of hobbyist or outdated models, all smartphones cover the spectrum from utterly untrustworthy to almost sort of OK-ish but not really.
Maybe changing the privacy settings on a smartphone will do what you justifiably expect them to do, maybe not, and you have no way of knowing it.
Despite being no guarantee of anything, it doesn't hurt to try it anyway as long as you're mindful that ultimately you don't control your own smartphone, other people do.
Dumb phones are not as bad by virtue of their more limited functionality but are still location tracking devices by their very nature and you're left with having to trust what your operator decides to do with the data they inevitably collect in order to provide you the service.
posted by Bangaioh at 6:21 PM on December 21, 2019 [1 favorite]