Reading through different topics in the forum I often found posts about security concerns of different FP users taking decisions upon this issue.
Now, Android is close to free for anyone to use. But this is not only because it is some kind of Linux derivative.
Users today must not be naive believing Google has got that fat because they launched one of the first usable search engines 20 years ago.
Recently I could read on the net that (big) “data” is the new (digital) currency rising.
Different companies are running their business making lots of money with it someone couldn´t imagine.
The more personal and sensitive data is the higher the value is. Bank data, health data etc.
So there are concerned users out there considering if Lollipop, Marshmallow or Nougat would be the best joice…aha…
Guess who is maintaining and developing all of them?
So who actually has his hands on them?
I assume there is no Android user out there without Google account. And some of them also use the available cloud space, puh…
We are making it so easy for them…
Also many are using their email app and account regularly…let alone what users do via their handsets - like online banking…
The latter I simply think is highly risky and crucial.
I do believe most users did not entirely read all of the companies terms of business/service. Often it is promissed that your data is protected (for whom/by whom??), but anyway it is massively collected in the background (just watch your data traffic using an (Android) firewall).
The best way to keep your data protected is to simply keep it wherever possible under your direct control and safety.
Furthermore there are users of cloud services giving whatever data directly to the provider. There is still a markable offset between what´s written/agreed on and what the company actually does with your data (Yahoo??)
Some providers not only give you tiny 10 GB of cloud space, but massive 100GB!! (Telekom). What for? A 100GB
mechanical HD still is about 50-100€. Maybe data storage is for free at some point, but I have doubts.
Internet providers usually offer free email accounts, (and a free background meta scan service) many customers don´t even know of.
That is also a statement of the “Startmail” service.
A bit of common sense could help, but it would also be inconvenient.
Using my brains…OMG - hell no!
This is only half of the truth. It is not only Google making money, but the programmers of different apps too.
So whom you would put more trust in? A global company or a single less known programmer from somewhere around the world promissing whatever as long as his app is used?
We have a nice feature in FP2 called “privacy impact”. But I believe it is too inconvenient for many users to keep it active.
But again reading each and every time all of the requested permissions from an app also could turn out as annoyance.
So often apps are installed requesting lots of permission not necessarily needed but simply ignored as long as the app or the game runs.
More central in this issue are updates for the OS version. FP2 receives them on a monthly basis. So I think actually there is not much more that can be done for OS security.
But I know users with Marshmallow phones receiving updates only every few months. And in between??? No security? Shouldn´t the phone be used until updated?
So is there a higher security over Lollipop even if not being updates just as often??
Again this clearly shows that security is not necessarily an OS only question and should be put into consideration.
I think as long as we are dealing with FPOS/Lollipop and Google any security aspects can be held on a rational basis.
Our data is only as secure as Google (respectively other companies/programmers out there in the big “data” business) let it to be.
Maybe unknown third party data collectors have some more struggle with more state-ot-the-art OS.
After all considerations like “will I rather have Lollipop, Marshmallow or Nougat” are as senseful as having the choice between cancer, cholera or aids (no specific order intended).
