Right up to the creepy line, then a giant leap over it.
Why is it right? Nobody forces people to buy Android phones
Never mind that to be able to bundle Play OEMs need to adhere to the requirements Google put forth in the CDD. And part of that requirement is that Google services apps are front and center when a new user boot up "their" device.
Google's product is this - helping you as much as possible in your daily activities. This obviously wouldn't be possible without user tracking. So I never understand those who buy Google's phones and then complain about the tracking the same time.
What I'd love to see is a service doing some or all of the tracking and data storage on the end user's device, with relevant data being matched and pushed to anonymous users algorithmically. Easier said than done I concede, but that's what I want. I'm happy to pay for such a useful service and I strongly prefer this to trading personal info.
I think a good way of thinking about this is food laws - i am happy to pay for enforcement of laws that make sure when i buy beef it is not, in fact, horse meat, rather than having to carry round a testing kit or rely on reputation/brand etc.
Occasionally some work might be required to check new technologies are applied in a constructive way, e.g. that a new bleach used to whiten bread is safe.
Oh yes, and also there is a power imbalance between the individual consumer and corporations/market forces. Think of regulatory bodies as a "consumers union". Would it be possible to organise efficiently without the force of government?
I can agree that such laws should exist for things directly responsible for someone's health, but that should end there.
Power imbalance exists largely because of the regulations that are significantly increasing the barrier of entry for the new players. More regulation will make this problem worse.
Markets and the nature of economies of scale create barriers to entry. They are a normal entity of any economic system. The "free market" only alleviates situations in which there is small added value in being an entrenched player, something which just doesn't happen in many situations and which disregards network effects and established knowledge in specific industries.
What "common sense" do you expect people to have for mobile tech? 99% of people do not and should not have to know what Google Play Services is, in the same way that you probably lack knowledge of things many doctors would tell you should be "common sense", or lawyers, or accountants.
It is absolutely acceptable that there should be people on the lookout for these basic privacy issues.
>Power imbalance exists largely because of the regulations that are significantly increasing the barrier of entry for the new players.
There is also a barrier of entry for the new player who wants to do 'the right thing' because of an established economy where only certain business models can succeed.
>More regulation will make this problem worse.
No regulation will also make it worse.
But to do that she had to buy a phone that permitted rooting, which needed an delockable boot loader, which required me to sit for a few hours researching and a few more hours rooting. It is ridiculous and if it becomes any more difficult for the next upgrade then we'll just jump to another platform.
I can't imagine IOS is any better. Is there another platform worth using?