Security threats in Android! ..or not.
So you’ve been hearing lately about how some Android applications are going rogue and being used to steal users’ data and infiltrate their phones, to sit idly by only to wreak havoc when the user least expects it (ok, so maybe I exaggerated a little there). But there has been a lot of buzz lately about certain apps not playing by the rules, or including certain calls to leach user information. A lot of this buzz has been spun as backlash against Google for allowing these types of applications to exist (instead of having some asininely draconian filtering process like some ‘other’ phone provider).
Well, to help defend Google (which they’ve done a decent job of doing themselves), this one falls back on the users. If you’re an Android user, you’ve most definitely seen a screen similar to this.
This screen tells you exactly (mostly) [kinda] what the application you’re installing has access to, and how far it can reach. It’s your (the user’s) obligation to agree with this and install, or not agree, and cancel out. See those two buttons at the bottom? If you don’t agree and see something that has “Cost Money” in this section and you presumed it was a completely free (as in beer) app, then you’d better click the right (Cancel) button.

