Google has decided to place complete trust in developers. Earlier this year, the tech giant launched a new data privacy section on Play Store. This section gives developers control over what they want users to know about information collected by apps. Google will no longer show permissions collected automatically from apps.
The company is giving developers until July 20 to complete the data privacy form for their apps. In addition to this form, they must also “personally” make complete, precise and accurate declarations for their applications. However, will the security of personal data really be respected?
Why did Google make this decision?
The purpose of this maneuver is above all to improve transparency on the way in which applications collect and process users’ personal data. Thanks to this new section, users will have an overview of all the information that an application collects, shares and all the details that could impact privacy and security. However, it is difficult to determine exactly how the developers handle user data.
While the company relies on the good faith of developers, Google Play closely reviews all apps against all policy requirements. And if the company finds discrepancies between the information reported by the developers and the application in question, it will take the necessary measures. An app can be removed from Play Store if it violates the policy. Recall that this list of permissions that Google has just removed includes the “permission” section listing all the permissions required by each application.
What is the negative aspect of this new Google Play Store policy?
It is true that this change is a good thing with the degree of detail of the Data Security section compared to the previous version. However, cyber attack has gained ground in recent years. Thus, the data can be completely wrong. Trusting developers remains a big risk.
Mishaal Rhaman made a comparison of the old authorization list and the new section on data security. He found that Google stores app permissions in the Play Store. And you have to download “Aurora” to display them.
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