A new Android feature is scanning your photos for 'sensitive content'

submitted by farmer from zdnet.com

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[–]farmer[S] 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

First, they point out that Google never told users this service was being installed on their phones. If you have a new Android device or one with software updated since October, you almost certainly have SafetyCore on your phone.

One of SafetyCore's most controversial aspects is that it installs silently on devices running Android 9 and later without explicit user consent. This step has raised concerns among users regarding privacy and control over their devices.

[–]RedditButt 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

And like every other huge privacy breach that should be, or is illegal, people just won't care and continue to buy such garbage until that's all we have available.

[–]Canbot 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

So they are collecting the sexting photos of underage kids who can't legally consent.

[–]Brewdabier 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Scan awayall you like, the other day I took a pic of my bulkhead door so I could get a good color match. Before that all I have on my phone is a black pic for my home screen background color, I don't use my phone for taking pics.

[–]DaveMaverick 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

What about memes?

[–]twolanterns 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

tyrant facilitators will get to that eventually

[–]LarrySwinger2 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Well, count me out. I don't feel comfortable having my dick pics scanned, it's paid content.

[–]HiddenFox 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

This was installed under "Android App SafetyCore" on my phone. When I looked into it, no permissions were enabled. However, I have another program called Bouncer which auto disables permissions on all new installed software and makes you enable them if/when they requests access. Has anyone else looked into this and what were the default permissions?

Them installing this without notifications is pretty sketchy. Also, if it never phones home then why the network permission access people are talking about in the article? It would be a matter of a small patch a year from now for them to enable a phone home system.

I can see the point of something like this, especially for minors but they need to be up front about it with people and easy to uninstall for adults who don't want it.

[–]LarrySwinger2 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I love this type of web design where you just scroll down and end up with another article. This is the only way to get me to read more articles, I never look at a list of related items.

[–]TemporarilyDeceased 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Three weeks ago my phone battery was dropping 1% every 3-4 minutes when I wasn't using it. It's an older phone so it seemed like it was on its last legs. When I became aware of SafetyCore and uninstalled it, the battery issue went away.

[–]twolanterns 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

privacy issue - billionz dollar class action lawsuits time