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jaykaykay
4 Ever Young
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join:2000-04-13
USA

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jaykaykay

MVM

How many of us have done this!

Have you installed a flashlight on your smart phone? Be aware!

»www.youtube.com/embed/Q8 ··· z8xKEFvU

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

1 recommendation

StuartMW

Premium Member

If you have any smartphone, tablet etc most apps (built-on or added on) do this.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. These "toys" are monitoring devices that just happen to make phones calls, send text etc.

jadinolf
I love you Fred
Premium Member
join:2005-07-09
Ojai, CA

3 recommendations

jadinolf to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
Heck, I don't even have a smart phone.

Snowy
Lock him up!!!
Premium Member
join:2003-04-05
Kailua, HI

2 recommendations

Snowy

Premium Member

said by jadinolf:

Heck, I don't even have a smart phone.

I do have one but I keep it as dumb as possible.
IMO, today smart phone security/privacy issues are where the PC was in the early 90's.
In retrospect those were NOT the good ole days & history will repeat itself until the lesson is learned.

GuruGuy
Premium Member
join:2002-12-16
Atlanta, GA

GuruGuy to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
The man was speaking about the top ten flashlight apps from the GOOGLE store, meaning android devices. IMO bad reporting by not specifically mentioning what device(s) he was talking about.

carpetshark3
Premium Member
join:2004-02-12
Idledale, CO

5 recommendations

carpetshark3 to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
First thing I do is root the phone. 2nd is install Titanium Backup. 3rd thing is to remove all crap including flashlights. I wind up disabling or deleting half the stuff on the phone.

I also read the TOS of any app. Some will ask why you uninstalled. Reply to that: TOS is POS.

aussiedog
join:2007-01-10
Mesilla Park, NM

2 recommendations

aussiedog to jadinolf

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to jadinolf
+1!

DownTheShore
Pray for Ukraine
Premium Member
join:2003-12-02
Beautiful NJ

DownTheShore to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
That report was good, in a broad sense, for making more people aware of what they are allowing by installing any Android app, not just necessarily the flashlight ones. Too many people are innocently ignorant about the evil that men (and women) do in the cyber world.

But one can only wonder why Gary Miliefsky didn't install his own company's product, Privacy Shield (»play.google.com/store/ap ··· id&hl=en) (now apparently called Privacy App (»play.google.com/store/ap ··· pp&hl=en)), so he would have known right from the start that whatever flashlight app he is using has been given all those permissions?

Duh-duh-DAHHH! CHINA! INDIA! RUSSIA! - And probably every other country where the software developers live, only that was not mentioned.

If you read the permissions requested by most Android apps, the majority of them ask for more access than seems necessary. Responsible developers will spell out exactly why they are requesting specific permissions in the app description.

I don't know about Gary, but every Android app that I install on any of my devices gets automatically scanned by either ESET or BitDefender before I run them. Not to mention that my wireless on those device is only turned on when I actually need to go online.

I think that I might have a flashlight app on my cell phone, but to tell the truth, I've never used it. I have to drill down through too many menus to actually get to it for it to be practical (it's an old cell phone); it's one of those that lights up the screen, it doesn't turn on the camera light. If I need a light when I have one of my Nooks or the Kindle Fire at hand, I just open up an ebook page and that's basically the same as a flashlight.
redwolfe_98
Premium Member
join:2001-06-11

redwolfe_98 to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
you shouldn't even need an app to turn on the light..

up until recently, i would have had no confidence in any apps for smartphones but i heard that you can control what information they have access to..

GuruGuy
Premium Member
join:2002-12-16
Atlanta, GA

GuruGuy

Premium Member

iPhones don't have an app to turn on the flashlight...it's built-in to ios. Swipe up the control center and tap the light and the flash comes on. Tap it again and it goes off.

The annoying thing about that news segment was that it was about Android devices but they kept showing an iPhone.

Boricua
Premium Member
join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

Boricua to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
I heard about this the other day. I posted this on Facebook for others to see this.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

1 recommendation

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to jaykaykay
Doesn't anyone have a tiny flashlight on their keychain which should be worn on the wrist (so you don't fumble in your suitcase purse or pocket for your keys or lay them down in a public place, etc)?

I don't even have a cell phone much less a smart one. If I did, the last thing I would do would be have it in my hand all the time (there is proof now that cell phones should not be carried against the body or held in the hand, except for short periods of use, to avoid cancer) or carry it in my bra. So, why would I want to dig out the phone from my suitcase (that current fashion dictates is supposedly a purse) to use it as a flashlight when I have a perfectly good flashlight on my keyring that is always on my wrist when not driving but using the car and going from place to place?

DownTheShore
Pray for Ukraine
Premium Member
join:2003-12-02
Beautiful NJ

DownTheShore

Premium Member

I usually just fumble around in the dark in those rare instances where I actually do need a light, because the battery on the flashlight/alarm/seatbelt cutter doodad that I keep on my car key ring is dead and I haven't taken it apart to find out which of those tiny round batteries it takes.

I just never think of the phone as a light source. Mainly I use it in lieu of a watch to tell time, since I only use it rarely as a phone.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

2 recommendations

Mele20

Premium Member

I buy the little flashlights (Rayovac LED) for key rings from Wal-Mart for $2 each (less I am sure on the Mainland). When one dies (they last a long time) rather than ruin my eyes removing the extremely tiny screws to put in a new battery that probably costs about as much as a new light I just throw the dead one away and get out another one (I always buy at least two as they sell out really fast and then it is usually at least a month before a new shipment arrives).

I've noticed lots of people not wearing watches anymore and I have assumed they use their cell phones as watches.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
I've had two smartphones. Both included a widget called "Assistive Light" pre-installed. Apparently it's a Samsung thing. I can't find any permissions info for it.

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

2 recommendations

StuartMW to Mele20

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to Mele20
said by Mele20:

Doesn't anyone have a tiny flashlight on their keychain...

I think many smartphone owners want them to be their one and only tool; flashlight, camera, phone, GPS, web browser etc. They don't want to have anything additional.

I'm the opposite. I don't like "all in one" devices. I have flashlights, cameras. GPS units all of which I use.

IMO it just another instance of "convenience"--in this case that of only having to carry one device.
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

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dave to DownTheShore

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to DownTheShore
said by DownTheShore:

If you read the permissions requested by most Android apps, the majority of them ask for more access than seems necessary.

It's a common problem with fine-grained permission systems. If you're an average programmer, your choices are (a) understand the system, or (b) arbitrarily ask for a bunch of stuff that seems sorta ok.

Far too often, the choice is (b). This has always been true in Windows. (Classical Unix doesn't have the problem because the choice is root or not).

It's not necessarily malice; sometimes it's just incompetence. The trouble is, the code still "works" if it has higher permission than is necessary.
dave

dave to GuruGuy

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to GuruGuy
said by GuruGuy:

Swipe up the control center and tap the light and the flash comes on.

I think I nearly set fire to a jacket like that. I was at a show, had my jacket off. I took out the phone to silence it before the show started, and then put it back in the jacket pocket. On the way in, I apparently fumbled it enough to turn on the flashlight. A couple of hours later I found my phone was too hot to touch.

Now I don't have control center on the lock screen...

carpetshark3
Premium Member
join:2004-02-12
Idledale, CO

carpetshark3 to StuartMW

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to StuartMW
With some of the newer cars, hanging anything off the keychain but the key can cause a problem. Even with old mechanical ignitions - the weight of a keychain could bugger the slot.

I keep a spare house key and the key to the truck box on a belt loop. I don't want a flashlight there with the bulk.

I bought a few of the Ott light mini LEDs. Small enough to stick in the glove box or console and far brighter light than phone. Flipped open, they stay on. You don't need a button. Batteries last, too. They use regular AA or AAA.

I use the GPS on the phone for astronomy only. Other location services disabled. I don't need maps. I prefer to print out or write out driving directions than listen to AI spout off. I like having all my reference books and apps where I can get at them.
I'd have to carry a huge backpack otherwise. BTW - camera manuals are on the phone also.

For your reading pleasure:
»www.computerworld.com/ar ··· 0we%20do

Think it was NYC found that a company called Titan had put bluetooth receivers in with pay phones (on the hood). They recorded any enabled bluetooth that walked by. Made Titan remove. That's another service gone from phone. I use the old rca jack with mouthpiece. You don't have to charge it. (I forget to charge extras)

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

StuartMW

Premium Member

said by carpetshark3:

I use the GPS on the phone for astronomy only. Other location services disabled.

My "toys" (GPS units, cameras) can't send anything anywhere even if they wanted to. They don't have the ability to transmit (unlike any cell phone smart or dumb).

When I hike I carry some of them. I often take my dumb cell phone--with the battery removed.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to carpetshark3

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to carpetshark3
So, with these new cars you have to carry TWO SETS OF KEYS? One with your house key (and if you live in an apt/condo or have theft from your house mailbox) a mailbox key and the other just the car key? I wouldn't buy one of those cars as I would probably lose the car key and those are EXPENSIVE. I couldn't even get a third one from Honda without paying a fortune and showing all sorts of proof of my identity...even though it was the dealer I bought the auto from. (I keep one at home, one on the keychain and I wanted a third one for my billfold --had to settle for a blank that will unlock the door manually but cannot start the engine and is useful only if you left your keys laying on the car seat). So, I am not about to do anything that would make it easier to lose the car key thus not being able to put it on my keyring with two other keys and a tiny almost weightless flashlight would kill the sale for me.
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

dave

Premium Member

Only for the cheaper vehicles. For the better class of automobile, you simply need the car key in your possession.

'Key' is a misnomer either way. If insertion is needed, there's an electronic thingy that plugs into a socket. So, use some common sense about how much weight you should hang off a connection device. A couple of keys is not overdoing it. A couple of dozen probably is.

I realized that most of the keys I carried I had absolutely no need to carry; now I carry the house key and the car key, total. Saves wear and tear on the trouser pocket, too.

The good news is that you simply can't lock the door with your keys in the car.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran to carpetshark3

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to carpetshark3
said by carpetshark3:

With some of the newer cars, hanging anything off the keychain but the key can cause a problem. Even with old mechanical ignitions - the weight of a keychain could bugger the slot

I've never run into this problem. But then I haven't kept any car for more than five or six years anyway... though all my cars up til now have been purchased used...

I also tend not to have a very heavy keychain though. On my keychain are.. another key or two, and my Kroger marketing card.

I wouldn't particularly want a flashlight on my keychain. Keychain flashlights are too small and while handy, not as useful as even a small "regular" flashlight, one of which I keep in my glovebox.

MoreCoffee
Premium Member
join:2004-11-03
Saint Charles, MO

2 recommendations

MoreCoffee to jaykaykay

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Strange that the video shows the user pressing the flash light icon for the iPhone's built in flash light. While I wont argue that malicious apps are present for mobile devices, the video seem like a sales pitch for Snoopwall's mobile security softwares.
Fickey
Terrorists target your backbone
join:2004-05-31

Fickey to jaykaykay

Member

to jaykaykay
I find a flashlight app indispensable. Probably the best option for Android is a custom ROM with a native flashlight toggle built in. Other good options are here:
»f-droid.org/repository/b ··· age_id=0
»play.google.com/store/ap ··· ht&hl=en

CylonRed
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join:2000-07-06
Bloom County

CylonRed to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
I never installed one - used the built in one on my Android phone. It has helped when camping.

HA Nut
Premium Member
join:2004-05-13
USA

HA Nut to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
More info... www.howtogeek.com/198846/no-your-iphone-flashlight-is-not-spying-on-you/
TheMG
Premium Member
join:2007-09-04
Canada

TheMG to jaykaykay

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to jaykaykay
Smartphones: jacks of all trades, masters of none.

For everything that a smartphone does, there's another device that can do it much better. Yes, even for making phone calls.

The flashlight function is no exception.
Bobby_Peru
Premium Member
join:2003-06-16

1 edit

1 recommendation

Bobby_Peru

Premium Member

said by TheMG:

.....

For everything that a smartphone does, there's another device that can do it much better. ...

Except for it's readily apparent actual primary function: data collection/mining/tracking/profiling/marketing.... of almost _all_ aspects of it's "connected" victim's lives?

carpetshark3
Premium Member
join:2004-02-12
Idledale, CO

carpetshark3

Premium Member

Name me one device that will carry and work my apps - Ereaders can do the books, but astronomy apps are another story. They only come for Android and IOS. Palm had a couple, but the screen is too small. (640x480) Most Ereaders are too large.

There are those of us who think an OS should only run the apps or programs they need. I turn off most of Windows and uninstall from Kubuntu. Make a device for us, then. Most of Google's crap from Android is gone.

If someone wants the whole bundle from an OS - it should be their choice, and a la carte for the rest of us.