Our phones are endlessly fascinating because of the apps we are able to download on to them. There are apps that hide facial blemishes and present pristine versions of our spotty selves to the world. There are apps that help you shop effortlessly. They tell you how to exercise, when to wake up in the morning. They let you engage on social media, entertain you with music, movies, games, puzzles, gives you the news, travel info, what the weather is like and much more. But why do apps need so many permissions?
It’s a fascinating app that you're convinced will make your life simpler and/or more exciting. So you give no thought to the permissions that they demand of you. You give them access to your location, your contacts, storage, camera, media, vote by proxy… well not that last one, but you know what I mean.
When Mukesh Ambani announced Jio with free SIM, data and calling this suddenly everyone could afford data-enabled phones.
While some wondered how they could afford to give it all away, it didn’t stop them from proceeding to download all sorts of apps with scant regard for what they were permitting those apps to do with their privacy.
Jio Music or JioSaavn to use the proper name of the app (since Saavn merged with Jio in a $1billion deal in March 2018) asks for all sorts of permissions. It wants to read and send SMS messages, make calls, view your photos, location, “determine the phone number and device IDs, whether a call is active, and the remote number connected by a call” and more! Why does a music streaming service want to do all of this!
ICICI Bank's wallet app requires all of these permissions and a bunch more! Why does it need access to your photos and videos?
Simple, seemingly innocuous apps such as a phone torch app will ask for suspiciously wide-ranging permissions. Basically, they need to toggle a switch on and off but they want to know about your contacts, access your microphone,
They want access to body sensors, health data, want to create calendar events, take pictures and record audio and video, access and edit your contact lists, see where you are using GPS, view your gallery and saved videos, read and write files. If they could, they would probably ask for your girlfriend's number and the deed to your house!
There are few applications that are content to provide a simple service without asking for a bunch of needless app permissions.
As with all else, there are a bunch of theories here as well: selling our data such as phone number and email address to third parties which will inundate you with targeted advertising, telemarketing calls and spam is not the only apprehension. Malware attacks, identity theft and fraud may be the aim of unscrupulous app developers.
What really gets the wind up is when we read reports about corporate entities offering our information to the government. In the news recently as a report about Reliance Jio telling TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) that “law enforcement agencies should have full access to user data, including decryption keys to sensitive and personal data of citizens.” Another company PayTM, has echoed similar sentiments; “that Indian authorities should have absolute and unrestricted access to Indian data.” In a sting video, Paytm CEO Vijay Shekhar Sharma’s brother Ajay, reportedly said: “We got a direct call from the PMO to share personal data of our users.”
Be careful
Well it’s difficult to say, but you can rely upon most apps from trusted sources to ask for permissions simply to improve the user experience. They will probably not sell our info to the highest bidder or defraud you. Meanwhile it is a good idea to install apps only from trusted sources, to actually read the dialogue box that asks for permissions and not give permissions you think are unnecessary. If all else fails, uninstall app!
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