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Comment by Calvin02 | Hacker News Reader

This is so ridiculous. Google Maps accesses the clipboard. Try it out: copy an address and open maps.

So do Facebook and Instagram, I’m sure.

The level of paranoia in the Valley is astounding.

My clipboard frequently holds sensitive or even compromising information. If it isn't providing direct access to my finances, it might be something that could be used to blackmail me.

No, these random apps are not my spouse. They should not get access to sensitive info without explicit permission.

I think the point is that almost 20 apps 'got caught' reading the clipboard but people are only singling out TikTok because it's Chinese.

Google Maps has a clear use case for accessing the clipboard. If Tok Tok only accessed the clipboard on launch to check for a Tik Tok URL, that might be one thing, but there's no clear reason Tik Tok would need access to the clipboard literally every 3 keystrokes.

> Google Maps has a clear use case for accessing the clipboard.

I don't think it does. Neither application should "access" the clipboard.

I keep reading about naughty apps and wondering will the OS ever lock this stuff down.

Google maps detects copied addresses and lets you route to them in one click.

> Google maps detects copied addresses and lets you route to them in one click.

Routing to copied addresses is not a clear use case for letting something spy on everything the user copies, because we already have an invocation for handing clipboard contents to software exactly when the user desires it. It's called the "paste" command.

At some point engineers need to stop doing things just because they can.

What is the clear use case for "accessing the clipboard"?

I assume Google accesses the clipboard to see if there's an address in there and search for it. Whether that's a good use case or not is up for debate.

Personally I was surprised to learn that apps could read directly from the clipboard at all. I would've thought that was purely managed by the system and not given to the app until actually pasted.

Why not just have granular “clipboard” permission that could be granted or denied per-app?

Personally, I like the ease-of-use I get out of google maps grabbing addresses from my clipboard. Not everyone would like it though, and that is ok. They could decline the permission request.

But I don’t want other random apps being able to grab that info without permission.

It’s fine if an app has a valid use case to access clipboard. I have found it really convenient myself. I think the crux of the issue is that the apps should be forced to get permission from the user first, on a per-app basis.

There is no paranoia. There is no reason for tiktok to access by clipboard and snoop into what I have copied there. It is bad behaviour - nefarious or not.

The valley is the entire reason why we're paranoid: there's huge precedent for this kind of access being used for nefarious purposes.

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