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In what world does a VPN need access to Camera and Bluetooth? (i.imgur.com)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I am fully aware of what vpn services to use and not. I am not using Express VPN, I am simply doing research for a master thesis, when I came across these results from Express VPN. If you have any ideas or corrections, please let me know why a VPN provider would need to have access to these permissions.

Screenshot is from Exodus service, which let's you view what exactly perimissions and trackers each app uses. You can check out the results and the tool for yourself here: https://reports.exodus-privacy.eu.org/en/reports/com.expressvpn.vpn/latest/

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[-] [email protected] 156 points 2 years ago

Camera could be taking pictures of QR codes to make it easier to set up a VPN.

Bluetooth could be integration with things like Yubikeys for authentication.

Dunno if that's what they're actually for, though.

[-] [email protected] 59 points 2 years ago

Best practices would not require camera permissions to scan qr codes.

Scan barcodes

Android includes support for the Google Code Scanner API, powered by Google Play services, which allows you to decode barcodes without declaring any camera permissions. This API helps preserve user privacy and makes it less likely that you need to create a custom UI for your barcode-scanning use case.

The API scans the barcode and only returns the scan results to your app. Images are processed on-device, and Google doesn't store any data or scan results.

https://developer.android.com/privacy-and-security/minimize-permission-requests

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

That must be a pretty new API, right?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Since 2015 it was possible with Mobile Visions API.

Now it's included in ML Kit

[-] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Wow, that's wild that I've managed to miss that.

Was it possible to run it sans-camera permission back then as well?

Thanks for letting me know about it, anyhow.

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this post was submitted on 08 Nov 2023

403 points (97.9% liked)

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