Other than more street view locations on Google Maps, Bing Maps is far, far superior (mostly in terms of speed, but after using Bing it's painful to go back to Google).
HTTPS Finder dev here - If you go into settings you can turn off the auto-redirect to HTTPS or the actual drop down alerts (or both).
Then you can go into Preferences > Advanced after some browsing, and you'll see a list of all the good sites found. You can create HTTPS Everywhere rules directly from there, without ever being annoyed during your normal browsing.
Users of any of the Nexus models don't, and for that I'm thankful. However, I hope Google takes this bad press seriously and does something more than merely distance themselves from third party cell manufacturers like HTC that have installed Carrier IQ on their phones.
Google could provide an update that would remove or disable Carrier IQ. Something to tide users over until the next OS update is available to their phones. I find it unlikely that Carrier IQ will be around on any device after ICS is installed (too much bad press for HTC, etc.),
but that may take some time or simply not even happen for some phones.
One thing that is starting to become very clear is that there are more advantages to the Nexus line than just getting swift updates! Third party cell manufacturers may have unwittingly created a two-tier Android market, with their modified versions of the OS in the bottom tier.
Google doesn't need CarrierIQ because they have their own spyware, such as in-the-background location tracking if you ever turn on the GPS or ask for location even once while running Maps or Plus, and of course because they mediate all your access to the world through their built-in apps, and don't offer an opt out from data collection and mining.
Hopefully, the number of users of CM will rise enough to give the carriers "competition" and stop putting stuff like this and other bloatware in them. Because once a phone is rooted, they can also use apps like the ones for free tethering and so on. And I'm sure they don't like that at all.
Not sure what you're calling out here. That end users have to root their phones in order to avoid something undesirable is not something that CyanogenMod can respond to. All the alternative firmware provides is a way to avoid something that is otherwise forced on you, and CyanogenMod is pointing out that it's offering that alternative.
I'm going to guess that the parent is calling out one of the standard geek fallacies, that being "Well, I made/found/installed a workaround for my device, and everyone else could do it. Problem solved."
It's a fallacy because not everyone has the technical skill to do it, and the amount of people who do have the technical skill are (I'm guessing, but I don't think I'm wrong) statistically insignificant next to the amount of people who don't.
So, the overall problem isn't solved, and the people who have the technical wherewithal to actually speak out about it as technical experts are, by and large, sitting in a corner with CM7 and saying "All good over here."
shouldn't, I heartily agree, but the hard reality of the matter seems to be that it is currently necessary. If you don't control root on your own device, you don't know (and can't find out) who else does.
I've been hearing some rumours of OEMs considering releasing phones with CM installed by default. They're definitely starting to actively support development (I think both Samsung and Ericcson have been providing devices, and the latter have definitely been hinting at providing much more support).
As a WP7 user, I emailed HTC yesterday asking whether or not this software (or similar products) are used on their WP7 devices. Here's the response I got:
"Dear Kevin Jacobs,
I understand you would like more information about the Carrier IQ software, or any software of this nature on your device. I understand your concerns about this issue and protecting my privacy is definitely one of my top priorities as well.
We have not had any reports of any kind of software like this on any Windows Phone 7 device. This type of software has been used on Android devices, but since Microsoft developed this operating system I am sure they did not include any software of this kind.
Let me know if I have successfully answered your question, please click here to complete this.
To send a reply to this message, please click here.
>I am sure they did not include any software of this kind.
While I am a WP7 owner, I find this to be a little presumptuous. Microsoft may not have included _this specific_ software, but how does HTC know they didn't include anything like it? I don't believe Microsoft gives handset makers the source code for the software. I know they don't allow them to customize it. Perhaps HTC has not installed anything like it or been allowed to install anything like it, but how would HTC know if MS did it themselves?
If they knew they wouldn’t be hedging. They don’t know, they just think it’s very unlikely. What this tells you is that HTC (claims they) didn’t do anything with WP7 phones.
That's a very non-reassuring answer, as her 'sure' statement doesn't sound very sure. The original report at http://androidsecuritytest.com/features/logs-and-services/lo... states "Devices supported include android phones, Blackberries, Nokias, Tablet devices and more."
It's beyond time for some real privacy laws in this country, but I'm curious.. Can existing laws cover this? For example from what I understand, PCI compliance is required for storing credit card information. If CIQ is capturing this information along with all keystrokes, does the same law apply to them? And are they abiding by it?
PCI compliance isn't a law, but rather a contractual agreement as part of your merchant account, and/or transaction gateway. If CIQ isn't taking credit card payments, it has nothing to do with them.
Actually, as pointed out in the article much of this behavior is counter to the stated privacy policies of the carrier. That's a breach of contract, and I suspect an enterprising lawyer could turn this into a class action suit.
