Comments on: Think Palm and iPhone ‘Spyware’ is Scary? Try Google Android

By: Jake

Jake — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:51:01 +0000

> I don't think most app purchasers on android realize that their personal information is being sent to the developer.

Yes, we do. This is COMPLETELY normal. It allows us as customers to get things like customer support, upgrades, and benefits. In fact, I more surprised to learn that iPHone app developers do NOT get this information.

Seriously, wtf?

By: nexusoneforum

nexusoneforum — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 07:13:28 +0000

If a customer purchased this from you directly you'd have the same information. I don't see it as being creepy either.

By: managercommunication

managercommunication — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:28:28 +0000

Do no evil is sometimes not so easy.

By: Name

Name — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:20:30 +0000

On a totally separate privacy note: its one thing to blur out the last name when someone has a common first name (”David” or “John”), but what exactly do you think yr accomplishing by blurring out Baratunde's last name?

By: Jonathan Wegener

Jonathan Wegener — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:09:54 +0000

Thanks for all the comments folks — interesting to see that most people don't see the unexpected transmission of personal information surprising when purchasing an app.

The point of this post was to make people think about the current fear mongering around spyware on mobile phones. The media makes it out to be like the developers are watching you and know everything about you based on analytics. But on iPhone and Palm, they know very little about their users — just vague anonymous information. But on Android, they DO KNOW everything about — developers are given the names and practically the addresses of all its users and combined with the location data that's passed back, has some scary privacy implications.

I don't think most app purchasers on android realize that their personal information is being sent to the developer. That fact certainly surprised me and led to this post.

By: someguy

someguy — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:28:45 +0000

agree with other folks here, if you're charging for an app, you would expect the full name of the persona purchasing. just standard ecommerce. nothing big brother.

By: zack

zack — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 20:59:14 +0000

You are being ridiculous. The people who buy your application are your customers. You need this information just as any service needs it – To provide support to the people who have given you money if they have issues, and to protect yourself if they attempt to do a charge back or whatever.

By: karam123

karam123 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:47:21 +0000

Very true indeed. FUD — nothing else. Except, of course, the sensational headline and submission to Hacker News to pull in readers… This sucks and I will never visit this blog again.

By: Chris Haseman

Chris Haseman — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 17:15:51 +0000

Physical products don't send back geographic locational data.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 16:26:35 +0000

Fully seconded.