On Thu, Nov 14, 2013 at 09:58:43AM +1100, Jim Birch wrote: > * Only install applications from Google's store. Their monitoring is not > perfect but it is better than nothing, and certainly better than a store > set up as a scam.
alternatively, use an open-source only app "store" like F-Droid. https://f-droid.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-Droid f-droid has a lot less apps than are in Google's Play Store or most other app stores, but read on: The most important two things to remember when installing apps on either Android or IOS are: 1. Sturgeon's Law (90% of everything is crap) 2. Sturgeon was absurdly pollyanna-ish on this subject. IMO, the crap percentage of smartphone apps is approaching 100% - barely indistinguishable. spamware, malware, spyware. As Jim said, check the permissions requested by the app. and be paranoid - better not to install the app at all than to risk it and find out you've just sent your contact list, call history, browser history, possibly your wifi password and who knows what else, "subscribed" to numerous $10 per SMS "information services", made hundreds of hours worth of calls to "premium rate" services, and/or given control over your phone to some scumbag. remember always that nearly all apps are crap and just aren't worth the risk. craig ps: google isn't trustworthy either. they're not quite as bad as Apple, but not really much better. I'll be re-flashing my android phone as soon as there's a decent, viable alternative. maybe firefox os. maybe ubuntu's planned phone/tablet os. maybe something else. _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
