Attention: this phone is a spyware device!

[Niccolò Paganini]

According to Samsung customer support and some members of this forum, this device does not have a built-in way of blocking Internet access for specific applications!

Many of those apps have permissions like "storage", "phone ID", "contacts", "calendar", "camera", "microphone", etc...
Therefore, when those applications are given Internet access they will be able to send all our data via the Internet...

That's why it would be of crucial importance and vital to have a built-in way of blocking Internet access to those apps.

For example, if an application has access to your data, to your storage or your contacts, it stands to reason that it should not have Internet access...

The only explanation for the lack of such an integrated system of blocking Internet access for specific applications can only be explained by the fact that Samsung and Google intend to have all our data and info sent over the Internet ... probably for specific domains ...

Google, Samsung or any other companies should not have, simultaneously, access to our storage data, contacts, calendar, camera, microphone..., and Internet access to send out all those data and info...

Besides, most apps are proprietary... so nobody knows what info or data the app is really sending out...

(Curiously and as a side note, my son has a Huawei P10 and that device allows the user to block Internet access to specific apps).

Therefore, given that this Samsung device does not have a way to limit specific applications from reaching the Internet, the phone is a spyware device!

 

[peachpuff]

The only explanation for the lack of such an integrated system of blocking Internet access for specific applications can only be explained by the fact that Samsung and Google intend to have all our data and info sent over the Internet ... probably for specific domains ...

Its google that doesn't want to implement an internet permission, we can block apps from access to storage/location/contacts and whatnot but not the internet, blame google not samsung.

 

[JeffDC]

Its google that doesn't want to implement an internet permission, we can block apps from access to storage/location/contacts and whatnot but not the internet, blame google not samsung.

Well, blame them both. Samsung is knowingly 'accepting' the Google 'flaw' on it's phone. So Samsung is also culpable.

 

[shaggyskunk]

Talk about an Over the Top Melodramatic 1st post!
Stay off the internet - Get rid of your Smart TV - Live in a box... SMH

Sent from my SM-G955W ??

 

[Mr. Orange 645]

According to Samsung customer support and some members of this forum, this device does not have a built-in way of blocking Internet access for specific applications!

Many of those apps have permissions like "storage", "phone ID", "contacts", "calendar", "camera", "microphone", etc...
Therefore, when those applications are given Internet access they will be able to send all our data via the Internet...

That's why it would be of crucial importance and vital to have a built-in way of blocking Internet access to those apps.

For example, if an application has access to your data, to your storage or your contacts, it stands to reason that it should not have Internet access...

The only explanation for the lack of such an integrated system of blocking Internet access for specific applications can only be explained by the fact that Samsung and Google intend to have all our data and info sent over the Internet ... probably for specific domains ...

Google, Samsung or any other companies should not have, simultaneously, access to our storage data, contacts, calendar, camera, microphone..., and Internet access to send out all those data and info...

Besides, most apps are proprietary... so nobody knows what info or data the app is really sending out...

(Curiously and as a side note, my son has a Huawei P10 and that device allows the user to block Internet access to specific apps).

Therefore, given that this Samsung device does not have a way to limit specific applications from reaching the Internet, the phone is a spyware device!

I wouldn't worry about it the NSA and Google already know everything about you.

 

[pltctytc]

without permissions 99% of your apps won't work. want to stop tracking ?dig deep into your account, real real deep to cut off a lot of privacy issues
then when you have time, google your name

 

[Gregzi]

....then when you have time, google your name

Not much came out for me, just a Google+, Twitter, Photobucket and my company activity...
But: I must agree with OP to some extent...at the end it is weighting between functionality vs privacy.

 

[shaggyskunk]

Not much came out for me, just a Google+, Twitter, Photobucket and my company activity...
But: I must agree with OP to some extent...at the end it is weighting between functionality vs privacy.

Agreeing to ANY extent with the OP's RIDICULOUS and ABSURD post & a Thread Title that is Entirely Misleading and Uninformed!
While everyone is entitled to their opinion - This Thread & Particularly it's Title are perilously close to warrant being Reported to the Mods!

It's a simple process to Disable Background Data for each and every Application that you decide to disable in Settings - Apps - Permissions - Data - Background /Toggle Off.

I made reference to Smart TV's as they are constantly "listening" in order to provide functionality - Then there's Laptop cameras which could be equally used to "spy" on their users... Are we to disable the functionality offered by Ok Google - Which is also "listening" to provide the functionality that we have come to expect from our technology?

Two Tin Cans and String are the bastion of the Paranoid & Conspiracy Theorists.

Sent from my SM-G955W ??

 

[pro_granade]

**** this I'm going back to a Palm Pixi so the NSA can't spy on me!

 

[Mr. Orange 645]

What if.....

The NSA IS Google?!

 

[Averix]

Seriously? You're downloading things from F-Droid and Yalp and you're concerned with what data individual apps are sending? If you don't trust an app to have an internet connection, why on earth are you using it? If you don't trust the company behind an app to use your data appropriately, whey are you using that app? Do you shut off all data so your internet/mobile provider can't sniff out what you're doing? Tin foil is relatively cheap.

 

[partcyborg]

The only explanation for the lack of such an integrated system of blocking Internet access for specific applications can only be explained by the fact that Samsung and Google intend to have all our data and info sent over the Internet ... probably for specific domains ...

Surely this is "the only reason", surely. I'll assume you have thought through the entire process of creating a mobile phone operating system as complex as Android, and also every detail involved in creating an application ecosystem that scales to millions of user created applications access by billions of people that worldwide probably generates over a trillion dollars in overall economic revenue (including employment by business built around it, advertising money spent, etc). Surely you saw a foolproof way too easily do all of this AND follow seemingly arbitrary privacy rules? You MUST have also COMPLETELY ruled out every other innocent explanation using this model, including showing conclusively that it wouldn't cause ANRs, app crashes, or anything else. Right?

You also have data showing more than just you would revoke this permission right?

Right?

 

[ultramag69]

What if.....

The NSA IS Google?!

You mean you only just realised this NOW???!

 

[the_toast]

I have to say, I'm always amazed how little people care about the spying that's being done through their phones. Saying "live in a box" or "just don't use the app" is a stupid response. You can still want to be part of society (which nowadays REQUIRES using whatsapp/facebook/google) EVEN THOUGH you're uncomfortable with the privacy implications. Someone acknowledging and being aware of this, and trying to improve upon it (or even simpler, just demanding improvements by the companies you pay a thousand dollar for a new phone) is often ridiculed as if it wouldn't matter, or people accept it as an something that is required for the systems we use. Social networks could work totally fine without being centralized, google maps doesn't actually need to send your location to google to function, and no app that i know of needs to send your usage of the phone to their company to do whatever it promises to do. Yet many apps do. It's not so much about that it is possible, the problem is that it is allowed. It shouldn't be allowed, much of the data collection should simply be outlawed. But, since hardly anyone seems to care, I don't see that coming anytime soon. I've tried to find people interested in this, but not even on reddit /r/privacy/ this seems to be a major concern.

 

[shaggyskunk]

@the_toast
There's a difference between being responsible for the amount of privacy you have and the amount of personal information that has already been made available... long before people were even aware of the amount of personal information that was already gleaned from the Products and Services that you have been using for years. To some extent trying to reign in your personal information is like closing the barn door after the horse is long gone.
The guy who originally posted this Thread is focusing his "panic" on one device and THAT is naive and Grossly Misleading!
Whether it's FB (which I don't use) or signing up for a Loyalty card - Your personal information is everywhere! Using common sense going forward is the only rational approach, but standing on an imaginary mountain top and shouting to the world that one device is "spyware" is ridiculous and deserves to be called out ?

Sent from my SM-G955W ??

 

[MiMtnBiker]

Ahh, the time of the Internet where everyone knows who you are, what you're doing, what you're buying, what sites you browse, your fetishes, etc. Most importantly, here in the U.S., your IP now can sell your internet history to anyone they please, even that time you looked up 2 girls and a cup. Sorry, Charlie, your life is no longer a private one and never will be again.

 

[shaggyskunk]

Ahh, the time of the Internet where everyone knows who you are, what you're doing, what you're buying, what sites you browse, your fetishes, etc. Most importantly, here in the U.S., your IP now can sell your internet history to anyone they please, even that time you looked up 2 girls and a cup. Sorry, Charlie, your life is no longer a private one and never will be again.

And if you Travel into the USA... Did you know THIS?

https://www.google.ca/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4494371#ampshare=http://www.cbc.ca/1.4494371

Sent from my SM-G955W ??

 

[the_toast]

@shaggyskunk True, the OP is alarmist and uninformed. I was just put off by many of the answers, which basically said "why do you use Internet then". With respect to your post about searching phones - we can easily make this a scare thread (and people would be scared for good reasons). Let me continue:
- apps that want to use your microphone without apparent reason (of course also the ones WITH a good reason to use the mic) can track you through high-pitched sounds you cannot hear, which are emitted e.g. by some retailers to track you through their store.
- You talk about 1 in 13.000 people arriving in the US getting their phone/laptop looked at and potentially copied? How about knowing for 1Bn people (1 in 7 on earth) who they talk with, when they talk with them, and in which location they are whenever their phone has internet. That's Whatsapp.
@MiMtnBiker Gnn that's exactly my problem, people just accept it and believe it's never going to change. I'm not happy they know what kind of porn I'm looking at, and even less happy that they could sell the information (although I don't live in the US). If it is that way, it CAN be fixed, you CAN prohibit selling this information. Or to collect it at all. It's definitely better to know the big 5 have all my information but won't have all future information about me than to know they can continue like this forever

 

[shaggyskunk]

@the_toast
Many of the answers - including "live in a box" - "stay off the internet" were in direct response to the careless & irresponsible comments by the OP - like = like?
Not only your phone has the potential to gain access to your personal information - But your Laptop camera - Your Smart TV (that is "listening") But this technology is something that most people appreciate and expect their tech to provide them with the functionality that they want - Being aware of the capabilities of your Tech is prudent - being paranoid & frightened by it is just sad.
The issues of Privacy are extensive and if someone decides to pull on that thread - it's going to be never ending.
Common sense & being informed is the most appropriate way to go ??

Sent from my SM-G955W ??

 

[MiMtnBiker]

@shaggyskunk True, the OP is alarmist and uninformed. I was just put off by many of the answers, which basically said "why do you use Internet then". With respect to your post about searching phones - we can easily make this a scare thread (and people would be scared for good reasons). Let me continue:
- apps that want to use your microphone without apparent reason (of course also the ones WITH a good reason to use the mic) can track you through high-pitched sounds you cannot hear, which are emitted e.g. by some retailers to track you through their store.
- You talk about 1 in 13.000 people arriving in the US getting their phone/laptop looked at and potentially copied? How about knowing for 1Bn people (1 in 7 on earth) who they talk with, when they talk with them, and in which location they are whenever their phone has internet. That's Whatsapp.

@MiMtnBiker Gnn that's exactly my problem, people just accept it and believe it's never going to change. I'm not happy they know what kind of porn I'm looking at, and even less happy that they could sell the information (although I don't live in the US). If it is that way, it CAN be fixed, you CAN prohibit selling this information. Or to collect it at all. It's definitely better to know the big 5 have all my information but won't have all future information about me than to know they can continue like this forever

I'm afraid the only way you are going to change it is to completely get off the grid. Many people are oblivious to the fact that they are willingly giving up their personal information when they have their noses buried in their smartphones pert near all day. What's worse is that the politicians only seem to cater to the wealthy, and since they are salivating at the idea of getting their grubby hands on your info, this will continue. Unless there is a huge uprising and people assemble in protest of this, it will not stop. Heck, I don't even think it will stop, then. Nope, money is the reason as to why this won't change and, unfortunately, you have no say in the matter. Unless, that is, you do get completely off the grid.