Comment on Where did the dust settle on Syncthing Fork?
perishthethought@piefed.social 2 weeks ago Man, the BasicSync app has a long list of permissions…
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.chiller3.basicsync/
Why does it need to know my Location?
I’m using BasicSync since a few weeks, the location permission is completely optional. This is what the app says:
Location permissions are optional and are only needed when restricting allowed Wi-Fi networks. Even if the permissions are granted, they will not be used unless there are allowed Wi-Fi networks configured.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago What a bs permission to have been invented.
It should be it’s own special network permission or something but what the hell does that have to do with the general meaning of “location”?.
Just allow the app to see what SSID I am connected to if I want to allow that
Sry for having to endure my rant
Yeah, like other people covered, it’s unfortunate but also very important. It’s easy to tie “visible wifi networks” to “surprisingly precise location on globe” in many places, so the permission is named for the worst case scenario. Yes, the app might just be looking for a wifi, but it also could use that same information to locate you, so it’s the location permission. Sensible.
If they wanted to support just this one feature without requiring a location permission, they could maybe have an API that is “are you currently connected to this opaque token” API where the app can ask “am I connected” and is just told “yes” or “no”. That’s probably safe enough. And then I could register the app with my wifi without the app even knowing what my Wifi is, it just gets a unique but random string.
The same is true of bluetooth. If I can list nearby bluetooth, I can see that speaker and this TV and guess location. But there could be an API that hides that, there just isn’t currently
It’s actually a bit informative. I believe Android approximates location using the SSID/WiFi information, so it’s not just network that it’s used for.
Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago Hm…Still so.
It should be its fully own permission to allow even if it belongs both to location and networking.
At least it’s open source so anyone can look at the code and figure out why it asks for the permissions.
github.com/chenxiaolong/BasicSync#permissions
ACCESS_WIFI_STATE, ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION, ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION, ACCESS_BACKGROUND_LOCATION, FOREGROUND_SERVICE_LOCATION
Optionally used for stopping Syncthing unless connected to specific Wi-Fi networks.
And location isn’t a permission granted by default on install (unlike Internet access), the user has to approve of it explicitly.
To know if you are on your home network and use direct lan etc, rather than finding a sync relay in the cloud…something like that.
Location is such a weird permission…
For example the permission is also needed to find local devices via bluetooth (eyeroll)…
And even then, local device finding is a sub-permission of location…
I think that’s more about telling users though that if they let an apl find local devices, that can be used to deduce your location.