14 DAY TRIAL // Several days ago, Mountain View-based Google started to deliver a new OS upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat users out there, providing them with platform version 4.4.2 instead.
One of the main changes included in the new release was the removal of App Ops, a hidden privacy feature that allowed users to set certain permissions when it came to what personal info applications could access.
To be more precise, users had the possibility to revoke certain app permissions, provided that they felt that these were too intrusive. However, the feature is no longer available on devices running under the new Android 4.4.2 KitKat OS version.
A recent post on Electronic Frontier Foundation notes that Google claims that the privacy feature was in fact erroneously included in Android.
The Internet giant also suggests that the feature was experimental, that it has been causing applications to crash, due to revoking their permissions, and that it wasn't supposed to be included in the platform as of now.
However, as EFF notes, the removal of App Ops is quite alarming for Android users, and Google’s explanation on the matter makes little sense.
This privacy feature was included in Android since version 4.3 arrived, and remained there in Android 4.4 and 4.4.1 as well. Google should have focused on improving the feature rather than killing it altogether.
Furthermore, the fact that users have no control over the personal data that applications can access on their devices is seen as a security hole that affects a billion people.
At the same time, EFF suggests that Google should not only re-enable the feature as soon as possible, but that it should also consider refining it, so that users would have better control over the sensitive information that applications can access.
For example, it could allow users to disable an app’s access to networks entirely, and should also consider properly implementing the feature in the Settings menu, making it much more visible than it is at the moment.