• Billiam@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    Not defending Facebook, but if you record a video with sound, then the FB app has to have permission to record your audio.

    That said, delete Facebook. Fuck Zuck.

    • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 months ago

      if you record a video with sound, then the FB app has to have permission to record your audio.

      I can’t tell if you’re trying to explain how it currently works (which I know very well, thanks) or asserting that the current behavior is necessary in order to record with sound.

      It really doesn’t have to be as it is. The OS can provide a record-video API, complete with a user-controlled kill switch and an activity indicator, and the app can call it. The app doesn’t need direct access to the microphone to allow the user to create a file with sound.

      Edit to clarify: I’m not saying that the “permission” doesn’t work as advertised. I’m saying that recording an audio file doesn’t have to require a permission system as coarse and disempowering to users as it is today. I guess the people clicking the downvote button misunderstood.

      • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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        3 months ago

        Pretty sure that qualifies for that permission.

        But the whole point of doing so is to use it in the app, and you for sure can’t do that without the permission.

        • Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works
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          3 months ago

          I think this is more a teleological argument he is making and I agree. We’ve become numb to these permission warnings. Oh this app needs access to my camera because I need to take a photo of something once at registration. Why can’t it link to my default trusted photo app and that app can send a one time transfer to it? I hardly question these permissions anymore since many apps need permissions for rare one off functions. The only thing I deny every single time is my contact list.

        • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
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          3 months ago

          Pretty sure that qualifies for that permission.

          I don’t know what you mean. Existing behavior does not provide the control or visibility that I described.

          One important difference is that the “permissions” in the screen shot are effectively all-or-nothing: if you don’t agree to all of them, then you don’t get to install the app. They’re not permissions so much as demands.

          (Some OS do have settings that will let you turn them off individually after installation, but this is not universally available, is often buried in an advanced configuration panel, leaves a window of time where they are still allowed, and in some cases have been known to cause apps to crash. Things are improving on this front with new OS versions, but doing so in microscopic steps that move at a glacial pace.)

          • conciselyverbose@sh.itjust.works
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            3 months ago

            If your app touches the camera and mic, it will show up on that screen that it does so. “Using the API” (which is just how the OS works) doesn’t prevent it from appearing on that screen, especially when you’re doing so for the purpose of putting video and audio in posts.

            • mox@lemmy.sdf.org
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              3 months ago

              If your app touches the camera and mic, it will show up on that screen that it does so.

              Showing up on that screen is no substitute for what is actually needed:

              • Individual control (an easy and obvious way to allow or deny each thing separately)
              • Minimal access (a way to create a sound file without giving Facebook access to an open mic)
              • Visibility (a clear indication by the OS when Facebook is capturing or has captured data)