cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26233189
“Android System SafetyCore’ claims to be a ‘security’ application, but whilst running in the background, it collects call logs, contacts, location, your microphone, and much more making this application ‘spyware’ and a HUGE privacy concern. It is strongly advised to uninstall this program if you can. To do this, navigate to 'Settings’ > 'Apps’, then delete the application.”
If you don’t want to navigate android settings you can also simply uninstall it from the Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.safetycore
Additionaly you can install this placeholder app to prevent Google from reinstalling it every time it updates: https://github.com/daboynb/SafetyCore-placeholder
I’ll repost my comment from the other post:
For people who have not read the article:
Forbes states that there is no indication that this app can or will “phone home”.
Its stated use is for other apps to scan an image they have access to find out what kind of thing it is (known as "classification"). For example, to find out if the picture you’ve been sent is a dick-pick so the app can blur it.
My understanding is that, if this is implemented correctly (a big ‘if’) this can be completely safe.
Apps requesting classification could be limited to only classifying files that they already have access to. Remember that android has a concept of “scoped storage” nowadays that let you restrict folder access. If this is the case, well it’s no less safe than not having SafetyCore at all. It just saves you space as companies like Signal, WhatsApp etc. no longer need to train and ship their own machine learning models inside their apps, as it becomes a common library / API any app can use.
It could, of course, if implemented incorrectly, allow apps to snoop without asking for file access. I don’t know enough to say.
Besides, you think that Google isn’t already scanning for things like CSAM? It’s been confirmed to be done on platforms like Google Photos well before SafetyCore was introduced, though I’ve not seen anything about it being done on devices yet (correct me if I’m wrong).
Yes like most things this is misunderstood, bandwagoned and thus overblown.
Getting tired of social media. Even Lemmy.
The other one is the Firefox tou update… Not saying it won’t eventually be a problem but as of today it’s not sending your data to Mozilla. You have time to see how this pans out.
Let’s see how this plays out.
As someone who has never used Firefox only librewolf/mull/ironfox this analogy is asinine. Switching browsers is trivial and not at all like dealing with the threat of violence. It’s exactly bullshit like this that is tiring. No one is really thinking just making unintelligent quips and reactions or parroting the bullshit of others.