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Comment by densh | Hacker News Reader

When it comes down to end users permission systems never work. Let's take Android as example. It allows you to view fine-grained permission list for each application which you are going to install -- that's good, right? For end users -- not so much. They click "OK" just to remove all this useless information and install their application right away.

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I think it's true that the Android permission system is not very good; an application with zero permissions can read everything on the SD card. However, I'd like to think this is just a weakness in Android, rather than proof that permissioning system for end-users don't work.

Are there any other recent examples of poor permissioning?

Maybe the fact that programmers are typically more considerate about this, but it has no "real" benefit to end users, leads to the whole design/workflow not getting much attention.

The problem is that no matter what the app and what permissions it asks for, 99% of users will consent without thinking.

Unix never worked??

Permissions on Android suck because they aren't fine-grained enough. Maybe today I want an app to have this privilege but not tomorrow. Maybe I want this feature that requires this permission, but not that feature that requires that permission. Rather than a blanket EULA-style shrink wrap grant of permissions up front.

I hear what you're saying, but I'm afraid that if you follow that logic too far then you end up in an Apple iPhone-like walled garden.

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