From: mariasophia@comprehension.com   
      
   s|b wrote:   
   > On Tue, 10 Feb 2026 16:52:54 -0500, Maria Sophia wrote:   
   >   
   >> Most people have no idea how many apps can read their contacts.   
   >>  adb shell dumpsys package > dump.txt   
   >>  grep -Ff pkgs.txt dump.txt | grep "READ_CONTACTS: granted=true" > read.txt   
   >   
   > We get it; you're (pretending to be) 1337.   
   >   
   > I just go to   
   >   
   > Instellingen > Beveiliging en privacy > Privacyopties > Rechtenbeheer >   
   > Contacten en accounts   
   >   
   > Everybody can do that.   
      
   I never disagree with anyone, no matter who they are, if/when they make a   
   logically sensible statement which is based on evidence and fact.   
      
   So, I agree with you that everyone can do that, but what people might not   
   know if I didn't inform them is that its output is essentially a lie.   
      
   Not a big lie mind you.   
   But not the full truth either.   
      
   As long as we realize it doesn't output the full truth, it's fine.   
      
   BTW,. I'm not necessarily pretending to be elite so much as learning from   
   others by way of comparison, how many apps they own that can read contacts.   
      
   On my system, it's somewhere between 70 and 80 "packages", but of course on   
   my system, no package on the planet can read my contacts even with read   
   permission.   
      
   But I know more of the million things that most people only know 6 of.   
   So my contacts sqlite file is completely empty (and always has been).   
      
   Directly to your stated point above...   
      
   Everyone knows the first half dozen steps of the million things we need to   
   do on any computing device to be private, so I agree this is trivial stuff.   
    Beveiliging en privacy -> Security & privacy   
    Privacyopties -> Privacy options   
    Rechtenbeheer -> Permission management   
    Contacten en accounts -> Contacts and accounts   
      
   While that activity isn't bad if you turn on "System" apps, it is rather   
   untruthful if you don't know that system apps overwhelm user apps.   
      
   Also, it's untruthful if you don't know it's onlyh for one user.   
   And it's only "at the moment".   
   And it doesn't say how the read permission on contacts was ste.   
   etc.   
      
   For that, we need the adb "dumpsys" command, which, when run on my device,   
   revealed over two hundred thousand lines of information about my setup.   
      
   Anyway, the important thing of this survey is to help others understand   
   that it's a common decent courtesy to protect private inforamtion in   
   contacts since it's a basic human right not to be sold by other people.   
      
   To that end, the answer to this question is supremely important:   
   Q: How many apps (including system apps) have read access to your contacts?   
   A: ?   
      
   When you find the number, the question I'd ask is "Are you surprised?".   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)