Anyway, here is another discussion point. We said that an app is benign to us if it does at most or only what we expect it to do, and no more. But then... how can we have expectations about an application? Do you think that its description should detail absolutely everything done by the app behind the scenes? It would be a bit overwhelming in that case. So how do we fill up the gap between a developer proposal and an user expectation?
I think the important distinction is between features related to the app's function, and which you could reasonably expect to be related to that, and things which are not actually part of that functionality. So if for an app has features I don't use, but which are clearly related to it's function, that's benign. If it does other things which I might not have guessed that doesn't automatically make it not benign, but I'd expect the app description to at least include an outline of the main functions. If it can do things which have an effect outside that app (e.g. alter my phonebook data) then it had better be clear that it can do this, and not do it without my knowledge and consent.
The commonest "non-core" functionality concerns advertising. I understand that devs need to make money (though I prefer to pay for an app and not have ads), so using the internet to deliver ads I would still class as benign. Collecting data about me means I'd not class it as
totally benign, but it depends on what data are collected, how they're used, and who has access how far from benign I'd rate it. Since I've no way of checking what is done with data that are collected, the first step here is does it ask for access to data that are not necessary for the app's function? But yes, I would want a full description of data collected and their use.
By the same token, aggressive advertising technologies, such as those recently banned from the Play Store, are not benign in my book. So it's not just the app itself, but the behaviour of any ad network the developer signs up with, which needs to be considered.
Then there's data collection by the app devs themselves. I can understand how it may be helpful for a developer to know how their app is used, so I class that type of statistical collection as benign if it is done openly, properly anonymised, there is an option to decline and the default is not to participate. But you'd not need to include this in the app description if it met those criteria, since you'd get to read that if you found the option and before you enabled it.
How about an acronym because the world needs another one of them.
