cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/25156749
I woke up this morning to find a new little friend on my phone! Android Safety Core.
So what is this great new application that was non-consentually installed on my device with no indicator that it ever was except an alert from Tracker Control.
There isn’t a of information on it, but essentially its an app that “protects” you from obscene images on your phone.
“One of the new features the company announced is called Sensitive Content Warnings. This is designed to give you more control over seeing and sending nude images. When enabled, it blurs images that might contain nudity before you view them and then prompts you with what Google calls a “speed bump” containing “help-finding resources and options, including to view the content.” The feature also kicks in and shows a so-called “speed bump” when you try to send or forward an image that might contain nudity.” - Android Authority
As for the Google play description, it’s very detailed about what your new friend entails.
Very descriptive.
So essentially it blurs any images of nudity that is sent to you or that is seen.
Obviously the app has to see all the images that are sent to you in order to do this. I’m sure this won’t be abused!
The Google reviews on this one sure aren’t happy.
You may want to remove this. It can be uninstalled. However to find it on the store you need to look up the link in your browser. I also provided it here.
Dont we all love google and what it does behind our backs for us?
TL;DR
Google recently non-consentually installed a new “safety” feature on our devices that blur any nude images that are sent to you or seen on your phone. They didn’t include any sort of update alert or anything and simply slipped it onto devices quietly. Here’s a link to the app where you can uninstall if you wish. Of course in order for an app to do this, it needs to see every photo that is ever sent to you. A clear privacy invasion if I say so myself.
This makes me quite glad I have not used a Google Play service on my phone since 2019. I only use Lineage OS with no Google Play Services and in 2023, after not using my Google account for several years, I went ahead and pulled the plug and deleted it entirely.
Unsolicited nude detected, do you want to drone strike the sender? [YES/NO]
Jesus. I didn’t know about this until I just read this post. Needless to say I’ve uninstalled the creepy little app. Thanks for letting us know, and for providing the link to uninstall it
Sensitive Content Warnings? What if Im not sensitive to nudity? What if im sensitive to privacy?
Haven’t gotten it, yet. Samsung Galaxy S22, no custom rom at the moment.
Fellas, its time to switch to degoogled ROMs. just pick one, theyre all great. lineage, calyx, Graphene, Muerena, whatever. theyre all better than stock because shit doesnt get installed without your consent.
And none support my banking app, unfortunately :(
Graphene with sandboxed G services should support it, however most banks do provide PWA support so you should check that if you haven’t already, as well as filing an issue with MicroG about your bank if possible.
Any of them have call screen? IDK if I could give that up.
You can side load the Google Phone apk if its really that important, but I wouldnt personally want google to have a log of every phone call Ive ever made, including medical calls.
However to find it on the store you need to look up the link in your browser. I also provided it here.
Thanks, you’re a real MVP.
Uninstalled as well, and truly appreciate the heads up.
What’s the app to request nudes?
You’ll find that in my DMs. No homo
Uninstalled, thank you.
My concern is, part of the design of the app is to know when the user is underage and detect when they are sending a nude. While I appreciate them putting a ‘speed bump’ there… detecting that specific event could also be an attack vector. Hopefully, we can trust the company that removed “do no evil” from their mission statement to do no evil here…
I posted this one too, just deleted it
