The Sign Up with Google Mistake You Can't Fix

Re:The Sign Up with Google Mistake You Can't Fix by boto3 on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @01:55PM (#11205075)

This is insane. I have Google/FB test accounts that I use to try out new products. I am now inclined to set up offline mail to make sure that my emails are not readily available to anyone but me. Of course Google still archives my removed emails but I think their policy is to remove them after a certain period. Can someone at Google confirm?

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Re:The Sign Up with Google Mistake You Can't Fix by r3bl on Tuesday March 01, 2016 @03:27PM (#11205769)

How about feeling inclined to actually read the permissions that the service is requesting from you and deciding upon that?

Same thing applies on smartphones too. If an app requests a lot of permissions that do not look like a legit part of the service, stay the hell away from it. A couple of examples:

    * Facebook Messenger does not need access to my location and call logs.
    * The main Facebook app does not need access to my SMS.
    * Signal does not need access to my calendar.

Solution: I have none of these apps on my phone.

Edit: a couple more examples:

    * WhatsApp does not need to read my Google services configurations.
    * Viber does not need access to my Bluetooth.
    * Snapchat does not need access to my audio settings.
    * Instagram does not need to run at startup.
    * Microsoft Word does not need to have the ability to set an alarm.

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Re:The Sign Up with Google Mistake You Can't Fix by fishanz on Friday March 04, 2016 @01:25AM (#11222347)

Android is tricky. I'm not an expert at their permissions settings but it seems that some of them are worded alarmingly for over-reaching yet justifiable permissions. I'm thinking for example (not one you listed, but..) that displaying push notifications immediatly when the phone is not in use requires a permission to "prevent the phone from sleeping"...

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