Upon deciding to install two apps today for retailers I notice something that concerns me greatly. I have run into this before but decided to throw this out on the forum today.With both apps, after clicking the "install" button a screen shows warning you of what access to your phone features the retailer will have if you accept their terms. Here are a few:- access to your location- picture and video hardware controls- modify/delete contents of SD card- prevent phone from sleepingand the list goes on.Does this invasion of privacy concern any one here? I find it unacceptable but wonder with so many people "App crazy" is it creating any real life issues for those of you that use these apps that demand this information? The two stores I'm referring to today are Safeway and Michaels.

I guess that's no more that what's already out there and known about us. If you are going to use the app I think you have to accept.About a year ago I answered a knock at my door one evening. A detective was there and invited me out. Once out 4 uniformed officers came from around my house. Seems a stolen phone was pinging from my house. They asked about every member of my family before I ever told them who was in the house. Then they asked about the Asian lady who lived here. Oh, that was my grown daughter whom was adopted from S. Korea. Well, she had gotten married several months earlier. But they knew that she had lived here. After they searched my car and we were filling out paperwork for them to search the house, one of the officers who had a phone watching the "ping" said, "It pinging from a restaurant across the turnpike!" And they all were gone within seconds.

Actually no, it doesn't concern me.

Don't like it don't download it...

Really? You obviously haven't installed many apps in the last couple of years. It's already too late to worry these days as the NSA most likely has already got all our calls and metadata. And lets not forget Google who know everything you've ever searched for.

And now, the new phones have fingerprint security>? My, how easy is that for NSA or whomever, to database us all. For me, a phone is to talk not play with. But I am from the old generation and actually, thankful for it.

Phone App. Privacy Issues | Good Sam Community

SCVJeff
Explorer
Sep 28, 2013
Perhaps someone from Utah can comment on the enormus NSA installation being built south of Salt Lake to do exactly whats mentioned above? All I know is that its taken up a significant abount of the trade resources in the area, and it took me 2 months to even find an electrician for a simple job. Theyre all on that NSA data collection center project.
joebedford
Nomad II
Sep 28, 2013
This kind of stuff concerns me so much that I do not have a "smart"phone.
SolidAxleDurang
Explorer II
Sep 28, 2013
No. It does not concern me that this app wants info from your phone.

I might reconsider if it was my phone.
sue_t
Explorer
Sep 28, 2013
There's too much identity theft for my liking. I don't see the value in giving up ownership of my information.

If I've lived this long without those intrusive apps, I'll keep on living without them. Most don't work on my smartphone anyway as I have an older generation phone for the CDMA compatibility required in my area.

With my archaic smartphone it is unlikely someone will steal it but if they do, they won't learn much about me from it or have access to anything financial.

And if I should misplace my phone, I haven't lost anything but a cell phone.
wa8yxm
Explorer III
Sep 28, 2013
I would not worry about it.. The scandal of the week a month or two ago was the Government Cell Phone data grab and the PRISIM system. The snews was all over these over a decade old stories and the person who brought them back to the forefront again.

in short.. The kind of information you are scared of giving up, the government has been collecting for a decade already.
OH48Lt
Explorer
Sep 28, 2013
The apps that bother me are the ones that demand access to your contact list. I've refused a bunch of them that want that list and have no reason to access it.

Then there are the pre-installed apps that are very intrusive, and you can't get rid of them without rooting the phone to remove them.
MrWizard
Moderator
Sep 28, 2013
some apps i allow some i don't

obviously a MAP app wants to know where your at

i won't accept a MAP app controlling the camera or video

a bar code reader doing price comparisons needs the camera to do the bar code scan, but i won't allow it to access my SD card.. i will find another bar code app

i have to accept certain things, but i don't give unilateral permission for full access to every thing

IF your privicay concerned

only used 'paid' apps with specific needed access permissions
Bill_Satellite
Explorer II
Sep 28, 2013
What would concern me? If you want to know where I am that's OK, I post it on various forums and other sites on a regular basis.
The permission to modify my SD card? Dang, that's dangerous. Prevent my phone from sleeping? Big battery drain but otherwise? Picture and video control? That concerns me every time I leave my phone propped up pointing toward my love nest late at night. However, I guess if someone caught an intimate moment at my age and posted it, it would not be embarrassing but rather a badge of honor!:W
Yep, by your standards I have thrown in the towel as I am hoping I get caught walking around with no towel. The World should know what they are missing!:B
OTTO
Explorer
Sep 27, 2013
It is sounding to me like many of you have simply thrown in the towel to care about your privacy. I guess that is the culture that has been created what with facebook, twitter, etc. I simply choose not to participate willingly.
bcsdguy
Explorer
Sep 27, 2013
And now, the new phones have fingerprint security>? My, how easy is that for NSA or whomever, to database us all. For me, a phone is to talk not play with. But I am from the old generation and actually, thankful for it.

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