[normhead]

Still nobody has explained how a photo taken on a phone becomes automatically accessible to third parties.

My step son has an iCloud account he uploads his images to. I am linked to his iCloud account and can see the images as uploaded.

I personally don't upload to iCloud... but I could,

[gatorguy]

You forgot one : the pictures you take become the property of, or are at least accessable to, third parties on the internet.

I have a smartphone and use it for one purpose only. It is switched on for only a few minutes once a week, for an app that gets a substantial discount at a supermarket. That's it. I have a dumb phone (ie burner, feature phone) for actual phone calls.

I'd guess you already knew that your "loyalty card" is the supermarkets way of accurately identifying you,logging your phone number as an additional identifier, connecting your purchases and then selling the data about what you bought to marketing companies. They hook you with the discount.

As an example that's how they discover there's a baby in your home, or someone close to you has one. Same with credit cards and credit bureaus.

As for my photos taken with a smartphone, if I don't share them there is no app that is taking them. They are private property that I control, inaccessible to "3rd parties on the internet".

[gatorguy]

My step son has an iCloud account he uploads his images to. I am linked to his iCloud account and can see the images as uploaded.

I personally don't upload to iCloud... but I could,

Then he has agreed to share his images with you. My daughter is linked to me as a family member, but unless I choose to share a specific image or catalog with her she cannot see my photos. My account, and my sharing rules.

[slartibartfast01]

My step son has an iCloud account he uploads his images to. I am linked to his iCloud account and can see the images as uploaded.

I personally don't upload to iCloud... but I could,

Same with Google Photos. If you upload to it you can control sharing with another person. Like you say just turn off uploading. I have no idea what the default setting for syncing is but it wouldn't surprise me if it was turned on. Remember the "celebrity" iCloud photo hack scandal?

[normhead]

Then he has agreed to share his images with you. My daughter is linked to me as a family member, but unless I choose to share a specific image or catalog with her she cannot see my photos. My account, and my sharing rules.

Yes exactly. Rick just sends us a link to his account and grants us permission to see them.

[bertwert]

I don't even know what's happening here anymore! But my understanding is that we've established that aliens are taking over the world and forcing us to take pictures on smartphones and print them at A2 size?

At least that's just as sensible as half the arguments I'm seeing here

Norm, you really should have waited until this next giveaway started before posting this - unless you've got a few more controversial threads up your sleeve ready to go

[normhead]

I don't even know what's happening here anymore! But my understanding is that we've established that aliens are taking over the world and forcing us to take pictures on smartphones and print them at A2 size?

At least that's just as sensible as half the arguments I'm seeing here

Norm, you really should have waited until this next giveaway started before posting this - unless you've got a few more controversial threads up your sleeve ready to go

Ya, I'm to old to have a posting strategy as complicated as that.

[Lord Lucan]

I think the issue is if you post things to the internet they are accessible to stealing. It isn't because you took the image with a phone, it is that it is on Pentax Forums, Flickr, Instagram, etc that companies and individuals can get access to it.

I choose what I post to PF or other places on the internet. With a phone it seems that anything on it is potentially visible to companies that have a finger in the pie (or nothing in the case of my photos because I don't take photos with my phone).

That is the PRICE you need to PAY for easy and cheap or "free" access to services. Nothing is free and developers have to earn their living somehow

I am not talking about elaborate games, storage, or office software. I am talking about simple basic apps like a calculator. Satisfactory algorithms for calculators have been around since about 1975 and today you can buy a physical scientific calculator for £5-£10, and I expect that all but a few pence of that is for the hardware and shipping. I would have expected a £200-£1000 smartphone would have come with such apps, without strings attached, by default. Nor do calculators and other simple apps need access to a "service". I don't need to owe software developers a living, so I will continue to use my 30 year old Casio pocket calculator when I need one.

Here are the "permissions" screens of my Android smart phone when I go to use the Compass and Calculator apps. The Compass wants access to the camera and the Calculator wants my personal data. What is galling is their lies so why should we trust these people at all? - there is no way that a calculator needs to collect personal information or a compass needs your camera. Incidentally, the picture below will come to you from a hosting service that I pay for straight - no ads, no cookies, no marketing. I don't do deals with my data, but if anyone wants to "steal" the picture, they are welcome to.

[normhead]

Our take is don't post anything you don't want stolen.

My standard response to my friends who ask for files is, "if it's on line you can download it."

[jersey]

Here are the "permissions" screens of my Android smart phone when I go to use the Compass and Calculator apps. The Compass wants access to the camera and the Calculator wants my personal data. What is galling is their lies so why should we trust these people at all?

This is current business model for smartphone applications (and websites btw, you would not believe how much info there is harvested from websites visits). I am not saying that it is good or moral or whatever. Just that it is like this. Apps are free, but with strings attached. Simply more people do not care or even are willing to give their personal information to get free services. So developers are using this to earn their money. People like you are margines and don't affect income so nothing will change anytime soon.

[normhead]

This is current business model for smartphone applications (and websites btw, you would not believe how much info there is harvested from websites visits). I am not saying that it is good or moral or whatever. Just that it is like this. Apps are free, but with strings attached. Simply more people do not care or even are willing to give their personal information to get free services. So developers are using this to earn their money. People like you are margines and don't affect income so nothing will change anytime soon.

Exactly, I don't like what Facebook does with my information, but, it's better than paying for it. The range of people I talk to on Facebook, family genealogists, former summer campers from my days a Director of a summer camp, a childhood sweet heart, teenage companions from the neighbourhood I grew up in. I hardly ever see any of them, but it's so cool to be able to keep in touch. Many of these people I haven't seen in over 40 years.

[ThorSanchez]

How do you know your pictures haven't been uploaded?

Because 24/7/365 I just sit in the woods with an old Polaroid camera, covered up my a metallic space blanket to keep out the devious RF signals stealing everyone's everything. The only way I'm posting here is through an elaborate system of carrier pigeons who relay my messages to an anonymous volunteer who logs into the internet via an encrypted VPN.

[biz-engineer]

Because 24/7/365 I just sit in the woods with an old Polaroid camera, covered up my a metallic space blanket to keep out the devious RF signals stealing everyone's everything. The only way I'm posting here is through an elaborate system of carrier pigeons who relay my messages to an anonymous volunteer who logs into the internet via an encrypted VPN.

I clearly see the sarcasm here, and you visibly lack awareness of how lack of data control can be problematic, especially when users of your personal data can't be tracked and held accountable, especially when money is taken from your bank account and you have to immediately take action with banks and file insurance claims. Good luck.

[slartibartfast01]

I clearly see the sarcasm here, and you visibly lack awareness of how lack of data control can be problematic, especially when users of your personal data can't be tracked and held accountable. Good luck.

By the way you still didn't tell me how my photos are being uploaded with backup and sync turned off.

[biz-engineer]

By the way you still didn't tell me how my photos are being uploaded with backup and sync turned off.

The same way as network credentials are being recorded in phone supplier database when upgrading phone OS or changing iPhone model. The trick of phone manufacturer is that I can't update the OS security without enabling access to all applications and content (photos, video, microphone and other). If I want OS security upgrade I have to open everything, the sync can't be turned off or else the OS update can't be completed. In addition, the OS has a background service running that keep asking for OS updates, something like every week. If I don't update the OS, after a while some apps become unusable (like a timeout). I guess if your phone manufacturer have sufficient access rights to change the whole OS running on your phone, they also have the right to download your personal content. It not because you tick off a box in UI that the firmware has to respect your choice, you have no control over what the code is actually doing because the code is compiled, no one outside of the phone maker has access to the source code, not even governments. That's why the military are prohibited to use their phone for professional communication.