The detail is the permission "Read phone state and identity". It allows to
do:
1. read the IMEI of the phone
2. read my phone number
3. know the status of the phone, e.g. the number of an inbound call
This is at least what I understand. Now:
* I understand that (1) might be useful for applications that want to
count the users (even though many app developers, like me, just do with a
self-generated UUID)
* I understand that the portion of (3) related to knowing that the phone
is ringing can be useful e.g. for pausing an interactive activity, pausing
a sound reproduction, etc...
But I don't understand why these activities haven't been split in separate
permissions. While it might be legitimate to know that the phone is
ringing to pause a sound reproduction or such, it is not necessary to know
which is my phone number and the number I'm talking to. What I find
unbearable is that more and more apps are happily using this permission,
often a newer version of an app does while it didn't in the past. For
instance, in the latest round of updates I can see five app updates that
are asking for the first time this permission. Some without any reasonable
motivation, and I'm quite tempted to drop them. But this is very annoying!
--
Fabrizio Giudici - Java Architect, Project Manager
Tidalwave s.a.s. - "We make Java work. Everywhere."
[email protected]
http://tidalwave.it - http://fabriziogiudici.it
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