Android Market App Destroying Phone Data

[VValdo]

Are you serious?

Android Market App Destroying Phone Data

That is the subject of your front page news story. And yet, the article goes on to say that some of the anonymous COMMENTS for the app are making that accusation. WTF?! Some of the comments also offer the following insights:

"Peter, you suck. Get a job."
"This program worked wonders. Thanks!"
"Haha"

I have read comments for other useful apps where people have no idea wtf they are talking about-- the ones for ConnectBot are hilariously clueless. Not to mention there's always hater comments, spam, "first post" comments, etc etc.

What evidence do you have that "Android Market App" is "Destroying Phone Data"?!

oxonom is right. This program requests ZERO permissions from the user when you install. So how is it doing all the things people are accusing it of doing unless there is a major bug in Android? (the SDCard is available to any program- but that shouldn't be able to delete contact lists and calendars).

Now I have no idea if this program does anything useful at all, if it is spamware as some have said, or if it is actually somehow corrupting people's phones... According to one post, all it does is just calling Java's garbage collector. The developer FAQ does not tell you that much:

http://www.emobistudio.com/faq.html

However, I'd like to point out that this is the SECOND time this site has repeated baseless accusations against an app developer as fact. Remember the "scandal" that "flawed and deceiving" Atrackdog might be selling users information? And now, without any independent investigation that I could find, this MemoryUp program, which some people do seem to be complaining about, is labeled a "rogue application". This is, in my opinion, unfair to the developers and creates false alarm for the Android community.

This has sparked several discussions about the appeal of the open source community when personal data is at stake. Traditionally a friendly, help-one-help-all environment, the open source community is under attack by many who have had their phone book, calendar, and SD cards erased by this rogue application.

Could someone tell me what "open source" has to do with this? Do you guys even know what "open source" is? As far as I can tell, MemoryUp is NOT open source.

You say that the open source community is "under attack" by many who have had their stuff deleted. Where is the open source community under attack by Android users? Please provide links because I couldn't find any.

And do you have an independent confirmation that anyone's phone book, calendar, and SD cards were actually erased by this application? Like did you talk to someone who had the problem and confirm that it was related at ALL to MemoryUp?

If so- this is a big Android security story and I'd like to read more. If not, more information is needed, and I think some apologies may be in order.

W

PS-- one last thing, I just checked the developer web site again and found this:

If you’ve already been using eMobiStudio and encountered problems, or if you have any related questions, please email to Support@emobistudio.com

I propose that anyone having a problem with this app write to them and then post the response in this thread.

[goodfellabk718]

Are you serious?

Android Market App Destroying Phone Data

That is the subject of your front page news story. And yet, the article goes on to......

....You say that the open source community is "under attack" by many who have had their stuff deleted. Where is the open source community under attack by Android users? Please provide links because I couldn't find any.

And do you have an independent confirmation that anyone's phone book, calendar, and SD cards were actually erased by this application? Like did you talk to someone who had the problem and confirm that it was related at ALL to MemoryUp?

If so- this is a big Android security story and I'd like to read more. If not, more information is needed, and I think some apologies may be in order.

W

*sits and waits for a rebuttal.....anyone?*

Where? "Where R the weapons of Mass Destruction!?"

LOL,

seriously tho....

[Jak Crow]

What nonsense. How has google and tmobile abandoned thei flagship phone? Because there hasn't been a firmware update this month?

Pay no attention to the whole "cupcake" thing. Clearly all those fixes and improvements are being added for "other" android phones. Oh wait. There are no other android phones right now.

[LazyGenius]

this is old... if you were smart you would have just downloaded "memory for lemmings" and avoided this whole issue...

[Waffle Slayer]

Ya I would like to see some comment moderation along with rating moderation.

Like on the Maverick comments. Its a big a/s/l whore thread.

Or the applications like ConnectBot where people don't understand the purpose of the program and 1 star it because they're retarded.

[Andrude]

Don't forget, Android is the anti-Apple OS. At the iPhone end of the mobile universe, you have the same mistake they made with the Apple // (one of my favorite computers of all time), with a proprietary dictatorship. At the polar opposite of the mobile universe, you have Android; the "I'm smart enough to choose my own mobile apps" alternative. Android WILL win the market share (just like IBM and it's clone companies did), because the free market drives innovation, and innovation gets consumers what they want.

I'm not against a VERY cursory and automated "do no harm" test being implemented for the Market, BUT THERE CAN BE NO DETERMINATION OF AN APPLICATION'S DESIRABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A GIVEN PURPOSE. The only reason there are so many "crapplications" on the Android Market right now is because they aren't being crowded out by real applications that you actually have to pay for.

We've been carrying around pc's in phone form for years, and they've been largely squandered and wasted because virtually no one could put (or pick) applications on them.

The iPhone marketing model is NOT the way to go (even almost 30 years after Apple failed with it the first time).

[ickyfehmleh]

...
So far, it seems to me, Google\Android and TMo have launched the G1 and then abandoned it. A disappointment.
...

That's because you don't know how to read commit logs or Google groups.

[rynosaur]

That's because you don't know how to read commit logs or Google groups.

Android-Dream-G1 and the principles it was created with are too ambitious for some people--it's literally too much phone for some. I stopped trying to beat people into thinking before they spat out such nonsense. Watch Idiocracy.

As for these MemoryUp rumors, I'd like to see some actual evidence. This type of publicized speculation is corrosive to the OpenSource community. I had the program installed for a while and saw no evidence of an attack, privacy violation, or system degradation. Let's see some log files.

[johnkzin]

the open source community is under attack

By whom, and for what?

The open source community is in no way responsible for this. The app in question isn't open source, last I checked. If anything, this is a vindication of the open source community: in order to have true confidence in the security of the applications you're downloading and using, you have to be able to see that application's source.


If anyone is attacking the open source community over this, they (the attackers) are f'n morons.

[Krak]

The red coats are coming, Man your stations!!!
________
VOYEUR GERMAN