Google privacy still a problem: Android phones the culprit

We're still peeking!

With all the hullabaloo surrounding Google's new privacy policy (which takes effect today), I mentioned earlier that Android phones were also affected. Turns out there's another privacy invasion problem: Android apps can access your photos and (in some cases) publish them publicly.

The New York Times reports that they actually got an Android app developer to make a test app demonstrating just how susceptible your photos are:

"Ralph Gootee, an Android developer and chief technology officer of the software company Loupe, put together a test application that appears to be a simple timer. Installing the app produces a notification that it wants to be able to access the Internet, but there is no notice about photos. When the app is started and the user sets the timer, the app goes into the photo library, retrieves the most recent image and posts it on a public photo-sharing site."

Awesome! Oh wait, no it's not. That time you got wasted and took 800 pictures so you could remember the great times you had? It could possibly go on the Web.

To be fair, most people who use their phones as cameras end up sharing the photos anyway via Facebook or Twitter (and yes, I'm talking those terrible drunk photos no one wants to see), but the point is that they post the pics themselves, with their knowledge and their consent. But Android apps don't need permission.

In the NYT article, a Google spokesman said, "We originally designed the Android photos file system similar to those of other computing platforms like Windows and Mac OS. At the time, images were stored on a SD card, making it easy for someone to remove the SD card from a phone and put it in a computer to view or transfer those images. As phones and tablets have evolved to rely more on built-in, non-removable memory, we’re taking another look at this and considering adding a permission for apps to access images.”

Oh good, considering it, are you? As an Android owner, this is making me rather nervous. I'm starting to like it better during the days of non-Internet phones, where all we could do was actually call people.

And think you're safe because you're an Apple user? Don't bet on it.