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Comment by jakejake | Hacker News Reader

UPS does the same thing, scanning for tracking numbers. I don't find it particularly creepy, but it probably should be a privacy setting just like location, camera, etc.

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Yes on a new privacy setting. Bonus points for having policy settings that depend on both source and destination, e.g. a custom policy for a string that originates in a password manager.

And then let's default it to deny access, and suddenly we've just destroyed the clipboard.

I don't like the direction where this is going. We've created an adversarial situation, where software developers go against users and against each other and then instead of fixing that, we keep destroying features of cooperation and interoperability in the name of "security" and "privacy".

the iOS / OS X sandbox model of file interaction is a good compromise for a similar situation imo.

sandboxed apps may only access a file outside of the sandbox via an explicit user interaction with a system UI element, i.e. drag-and-drop a file via OS X drag-and-drop API, select a file in iOS / OS X owned file dialog, share sheets, etc.

The clipboard is not for apps to help themselves in what the user does, it is for the user to use directly. If apps do want to programmatically access the clipboard I don't see why not forcing them to ask first.

The suggestion is to prevent apps reading the clipboard, not to prevent the user pasting their clipboard contents into the app.

I don't see how that would destroy the clipboard any more than having a permission dialog when an app wants to access my camera? Every social app out there wants to access my contact list in the name of "cooperation and interoperability." I like having the choice of whether or not they get to access that data.

I wouldn't mind if I opened an app and got a one-time dialog "This app is trying to access your clipboard. Do you want to allow it?"

How is this not creepy? Apps shouldn't be sniffing around in my data unless I tell them to.

Instapaper also does it (with url, suggesting adding them)

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