Task Manager kills privacy

GoogleHeadache · September 1st, 2012, 03:53 AM

I'm amazed to find no discussion of this:

Android/Google is at it again, not giving a rat's you know what about privacy. Everyone is raving about the new Task Manger in Ice Cream Sandwich, which gives snapshots of open applications and allows you to swipe them closed.

This means your recently open emails, recently open text messages, recently open photos, etc. are viewable through Android's new Task Manager (which you get to by long-pressing the home button), REGARDLESS whether you have those apps protected behind an app manager security lock.

And Android provides no settings to override this "feature."

In other words, unless your whole phone is security locked (which some people don't like to do so they don't have to go through the repeated process of unlocking, or to make it safer to access the phone in driving mode, or to enable good Samaritans to get to the dialer and return a lost phone), anyone who picks up your phone can see at least portions of your recent texts, emails, photos, etc. simply by going to the Task Manager.

Good job Google. You've been miserably failing at privacy for two decades now.

(Also, as long as I'm being the Grinch, some of us don't want to listen to your power up and power down jingles, say, for instance, if we're in class, in the library, or in court. Would it kill you to provide some user defined environment settings once in a while?)

Kelmar · September 1st, 2012, 05:51 AM

To be fair, the phone is as secure as a user makes it. If someone gets your phone them they'd likely also have access to all of your emails, contact settings, etc. Those who want to avoid that can easily set a pin/password/pattern/face unlock.

In fact, ICS goes as far as to include an option to put your CUSTOMISABLE contact info on the lock screen.

Sorry, but if google has failed to to provide adequate security for 2 decades, why continue to support them??

chanchan05 · September 1st, 2012, 06:14 AM

Honestly I'd think this a bit rather pointless. The thumbnails are too small to even bother straining your eyes to look at. I'm already using a tablet, and the text on the thumbnails are too small to read even with a magnifying glass.

EarlyMon · September 1st, 2012, 08:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoogleHeadache

(Also, as long as I'm being the Grinch, some of us don't want to listen to your power up and power down jingles, say, for instance, if we're in class, in the library, or in court. Would it kill you to provide some user defined environment settings once in a while?)

On many models, turning off the ringer sound will quiet the phone on power down and on power up.

And I believe that a long press of home has always been able to bring up recent apps, it's a bit different in presentation in ICS.

GoogleHeadache · September 13th, 2012, 05:47 PM

To Kelmar:
The point is that setting a pin, password, pattern or other unlock -- on the phone or any individual application -- DOES NOT prevent ICS's new task manager from displaying thumbnail screenshots of recent browser, email, text, etc. activity.

To chanchano5: The thumbnails ARE NOT too small to read thetext is displayed, including the names of senders/recipients, the content of emails/text messages, or the website last browsed and what is displayed on it.

To EarlyMon: A long press of the home key has always brought up recent apps. But only since ICS does it bring up thumbnails displaying text and activity. As for the boot/shut down tunes, it's true that reducing the ringer to silent silences these tunes. But who wants to have to do that every time they turn their phone off?

Bottom line: ICM's task manager displays revealing thumbnails of all currently loaded applications, bypassing all privacy and lock settings, making a mockery of google's/android's supposed commitment to privacy.

Kelmar · September 13th, 2012, 05:59 PM

I totally see (and to an extent) can agree with where you are coming from. I just look at it as something that there are already in systems in place to prevent.

To get to that point someone would have to unlock the phone first. If the phone is locked (or set to lock after pressing the power button or xx minutes of inactivity) then you can't access the ICS Task Manager. That is, our privacy is as much as we want it to be. If you aren't worried, don't make a lock. If you do care or are worried, use one of the lock methods.

T.M.M.L · September 14th, 2012, 01:19 PM

Greetings headache,

Like Kelmar said, a auto-lock time out setting coupled with a pin lock entry code secures your phone from prying eyes.

If your worried about someone rummaging through your phone after you've loaned it to make a call, then man don't lend out your phone.

If the desire to be of help over rides your paranoia, simply pull up the task manager, press the remove all, and poof all evidence of what you were doing is gone.

You seem to be making a issue out of something that's not really an issue. If there was no way around any of the things that your bringing up, then I would be on your side all the way. This isn't Apple, you don't have to wait for them to supply you with the way to do things.

The sound issue can be solved with the app Audiomanager. You can set up various profiles that can be accessed easily.

Hope that you don't take this as a attack, because it's not. Just commenting on your perception of things.

aysiu · September 14th, 2012, 01:37 PM

OP, I can see where you're coming from, but what Google implemented makes 100% sense, and your suggestion makes only 50% sense.

If you want to secure your phone for privacy purposes, it's best to secure the whole phone.

The idea that you keep the phone itself unlocked all the time but then just don't want thumbnails of apps displayed is not good security/privacy implementation. It is not based on a typical use case scenario. Is your scenario valid? For you, yes. Does that mean that Google isn't doing its job for everyone else? No.