I completely disagree with the conclusion of this article. Consider Apple's App Store. Supposedly, the application and review process makes things safer for end users. Unfortunately we've seen this is not always the case. Additionally, Apple's policies have been harshly criticized by others as being a walled garden that stifles competition.
Can Google really expect to keep an app like this from slipping through their approval process? It's not like the extension runs and crashes Chrome while sending your browsing history to DoubleClick.
I think a better way to approach this issue is to engage the users when they install an app with flexible permission settings, by saying "These are the things this app is allowed to do. If you don't want it to do all of these things, you may uncheck specific permissions. Be aware that restricting this extension may cause it to not work properly".
That's a bad idea. People will always click through warning and permission screens; increasing the complexity of warning screens simply increases the likelihood that people will click through it without reading it.
Comments
I completely disagree with the conclusion of this article. Consider Apple's App Store. Supposedly, the application and review process makes things safer for end users. Unfortunately we've seen this is not always the case. Additionally, Apple's policies have been harshly criticized by others as being a walled garden that stifles competition.
Can Google really expect to keep an app like this from slipping through their approval process? It's not like the extension runs and crashes Chrome while sending your browsing history to DoubleClick.
I think a better way to approach this issue is to engage the users when they install an app with flexible permission settings, by saying "These are the things this app is allowed to do. If you don't want it to do all of these things, you may uncheck specific permissions. Be aware that restricting this extension may cause it to not work properly".
That's a bad idea. People will always click through warning and permission screens; increasing the complexity of warning screens simply increases the likelihood that people will click through it without reading it.