It's obviously not a security problem or a harm when used by an open source file synchronization app, and Google is being unsophisticated with its policy here.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/apps-with-15m...
https://www.zdnet.com/article/phantomlance-spying-campaign-b...
https://www.welivesecurity.com/2023/05/23/android-app-breaki...
There are also examples of apps using the filesystem to try to detect rooted devices, an invasion of user privacy:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/g6cdl6/apps_have_a...
But does the policy solve this problem? The first link is a file explorer app. In theory that app should be granted the permision by Google. They could get established and then start collecting data later. So how does the policy help?
In practice the only way it helps is by Google basically telling everyone other than big trusted orgs no, and that's not an open ecosystem.
Why not just give the user a big fat warning, even telling them that apps which request this permission have been known to steal data in the past, then let them decide for themselves?
> that's not an open ecosystem
No, it is not. Did someone claim it was?
The open ecosystem of Android is that users can choose to install apps from any source they like. Apps like Syncthing-Fork and (full-featured) Nextcloud are available from other sources including F-Droid. Google does a couple things to privilege its own store, though I think those are being mitigated due to legislation and litigation.
No, we said that's what we want it to be.
(btw, not singling out Google - IMHO Apple is bad here too. This duopoly in the smartphone space is a major PITA)
Even if that interface is insecure and harmful to users ?
As an industry we've learnt a lot about how apps siphon and sell your data. And I appreciate this probably doesn't apply to NextCloud but it can be difficult to build an API that is flexible and secure so you will get casualties.