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Giving out passwords? How could this app be legal??

With the huge number of apps in the store, it's not impossible for a bad one to slip through the cracks occasionally.
You're free to report it to Google yourself, there is a link at the bottom of each app in the Play store marked "Flag as Inappropriate".
 
Fox Mulder said:
With the huge number of apps in the store, it's not impossible for a bad one to slip through the cracks occasionally.
You're free to report it to Google yourself, there is a link at the bottom of each app in the Play store marked "Flag as Inappropriate".
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This app has already gained 10 million downloads. I don't know if I should flag/report or just stay out of it.
 
There is nothing illegal about it. The app is sharing passwords to hotspots that is uploaded to them by users. It is important to note that users have to specifically share the password to the service, they don't just automatically share the password of any system you log into. Unless you specifically sign an agreement with someone saying not to share a password there is no reason that you cannot do so. Even then it is probably a civil dispute rather than a criminal one.

Think of it like this though - you go to a local public hotspot, and you get the password from the owner. Ten minutes later your friends join you and you give them the password, have you committed a crime? Same principal, just automated.

Now whether or not this is a secure method of sharing password is a different question. Whether it does or doesn't though does not make it illegal.

There is a similar app that I have greater faith in called Instabridge that does basically the same thing.
 
fdbryant3 said:
There isThank you for clarifying. nothing illegal about it. The app is sharing passwords to hotspots that is uploaded to them by users. It is important to note that users have to specifically share the password to the service, they don't just automatically share the password of any system you log into. Unless you specifically sign an agreement with someone saying not to share a password there is no reason that you cannot do so. Even then it is probably a civil dispute rather than a criminal one.

Think of it like this though - you go to a local public hotspot, and you get the password from the owner. Ten minutes later your friends join you and you give them the password, have you committed a crime? Same principal, just automated.

Now whether or not this is a secure method of sharing password is a different question. Whether it does or doesn't though does not make it illegal.

There is a similar app that I have greater faith in called Instabridge that does basically the same thing.
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Thank you for clarifying. Do you know if there's an app that will boost your tablet's Wi-Fi reception strength for example if you are in an area were there is a wifi signal but you're kinda far from The router? Or is this purely a hardware thing? P.S I started a thread about this question if you want to answer it there.
 
WiFi reception depends on hardware and firmware, but an app cannot do anything to improve it (even a firmware update can only do so much, with big gains only if the earlier firmware was buggy).

That isn't to say you won't find apps that claim to do this, just that they are fakes.
 
The_Chief said:
I'd say go ahead and report it. Put it in Google's court to determine what they're going to do with it. Good catch!
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fdbryant3 said:
There is nothing illegal about it. The app is sharing passwords to hotspots that is uploaded to them by users. It is important to note that users have to specifically share the password to the service, they don't just automatically share the password of any system you log into. Unless you specifically sign an agreement with someone saying not to share a password there is no reason that you cannot do so. Even then it is probably a civil dispute rather than a criminal one.

Think of it like this though - you go to a local public hotspot, and you get the password from the owner. Ten minutes later your friends join you and you give them the password, have you committed a crime? Same principal, just automated.

Now whether or not this is a secure method of sharing password is a different question. Whether it does or doesn't though does not make it illegal.

There is a similar app that I have greater faith in called Instabridge that does basically the same thing.
Click to expand...
In the UK it would probably be illegal due to the computer misuse act (1990)
 
psionandy said:
In the UK it would probably be illegal due to the computer misuse act (1990)
Click to expand...

Well I'm not a US lawyer much less know anything about UK law, so I shouldn't comment but I will anyway. My guess would be the app itself isn't illegal however the act of sharing the corporate password (or any password that isn't intended to be shared) to the app might be.

Considering that for a period of time Microsoft was distributing a similar feature with Windows 10 (which was removed because people weren't using it) and to my knowledge was a feature available in the UK, I don't think the app itself would be deemed illegal.
 
Because of the way the Microsoft implemented password sharing, it would be easier for them to argue consent.... This appears to be a lot more indiscriminate. So the use of the app, and the people who made the app, would be in breach of it.
 
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