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Re: Many ad SDKs share locations

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Arno Welzel wrote:
>> Only one in a million people know how to set up Android to not show ads.
> 
> Just not using apps with Ads? Or would that be too easy? ;-)

Hi Arno,

Good point! Touche

I will never disagree with any logically sensible viewpoint.
Only fools do that. That's why they're fools.

While we disagree on philosophy sometimes, most of the time we agree on the
facts, where I do agree with you, much as I'd agree with anyone who
presents a logically defensible point of view, that the *easiest* solution
is simply not to load apps that have ads.

This is easy to do even for the hoi polloi given every app must declare
whether or not it contains ads. 

However, I think the point of the original article was that many app
developers incorporate Google SDKs which, according to the article,
secretly record your GPS location and report it to the Google ad servers.

>> I think it's NOT obvious that an ad-related SDK is secretly hidden inside
>> of apps which, according to the article, even the developer is unaware of.
>>  <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/07/developers-beware-ad-libraries-betray-your-users-location-privacy>
>> 
>> If it's not obvious to a developer, how could it possibly be obvious to us?
> 
> Well - if it's not obvious to a developer, that the app he is working
> on, has an ad-related SDK as dependency, he should either get some
> training in dependency management or stop working as professional
> developer and do something else.

Again, I agree fully with you. To see if I had any apps which have
ad-related SDKs inside them, I started writing a batch script but it turned
out that the "grep" is too difficult for Windows so I put that on hold.

Every day there's a new program to write, as you well know, so I'm working
on others at the moment as my phone has never shown an ad in many years.

>>> Best solution to avoid this: use open source without ads or at least
>>> paid apps which don't have ads at all.
>> 
>> As you know, I've not seen an advertisement on my Android in many years.
>> So, I might disagree with you as for what the "best solution" is.
> 
> Why? How else would you avoid ads? By installing some ad blocking proxy
> app which may not work, when you need to have a VPN as well?

My phone is literally absolutely physically incapable of showing ads. 

My point was that only one out of a million people know how to do that. 

Even I would be hard pressed to write a tutorial as it's not simple to do.

>> However, for most people, assuming they're not all that technically astute,
>> then, sure, the best simple philosophy to give them is to mainly install
>> FOSS apps. 
> 
> Yes - that's what I said - "use open source without ads".

I never disagree with any logically defensible statement, Arno, so I agree.

>> As for the advice to pay the app developer NOT to show ads, well, that's
>> kind of like paying the Mafia insurance not to burn down your business.
> 
> You would never pay for services or software?

Well, almost never. The only software I've ever paid for is TurboTax.

> OSMAnd also has a *paid* subscription to support their work, even when
> the app itself is free and can be downloaded for free as well.

OSMAnd~/OSMAnd+ has both a free and paid version, as you're well aware.

I've used OSMAnd~ but I find it inferior to other solutions, even as I do
very much love that it's an open source project, even for the map database.

>> While it's absurd advice in my opinion, I'm sure most people follow it.
> 
> Why is it "absurd" to use paid apps which don't have ads instead of
> using "free" versions which show ads to generate income for the developers?

The instant you 'pay' for anything on the net, you have lost your privacy.

>> Just like most people would pay the Mafia not to burn down their buildings.
> 
> I don't. But I have to pay my landlord for the rent and also for
> electricity, water and internet access. Are all these companies "Mafia"?

Well, I get my Internet for free but you're not paying those companies to
give you a product sans ads, so I don't think the example is appropriate.

I can install an ad-supported app and it works fine, just without ads.

>> As for me, I would just prevent Android from ever showing ads.
>> Then, you could install the free versions of any software.
>> 
>> You'll never see ads ever.
>> Ask me how I know this.
> 
> Yes, but then you don't remove ads, you just stop the apps to show them.
> The whole location spying code is then still installed.

You think I'm only using ad blocking VPN settings, but it's more than that.
My phone is literally physically incapable of ever showing a single ad.

Only one in a million people know how to do that, and, even I would be hard
pressed to list the things I had to do to make my phone incapable of ads.

The proof though, which took me many hours to test about two or three
months ago, is that none of the ad-serving packages are left on my system.
-- 
You clearly don't appreciate how smart I am compared to most people. :)

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Thread

Many ad SDKs share locations ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de (Stefan Ram) - 2026-08-05 21:06 +0000
  Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-05 13:56 -0800
    Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-05 15:17 -0800
  Re: Many ad SDKs share locations "R.Wieser" <address@is.invalid> - 2026-08-06 09:16 +0200
    Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-06 07:55 -0800
  Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2026-08-07 16:09 +0200
    Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-07 18:51 -0800
      Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2026-08-09 11:18 +0200
        Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-15 09:05 -0800
          Re: Many ad SDKs share locations "Carlos E. R." <robin_listas@es.invalid> - 2026-08-15 19:30 +0200
            Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-15 10:37 -0800
          Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Nuno Silva <nunojsilva@invalid.invalid> - 2026-08-16 09:28 +0100
            Re: Many ad SDKs share locations Maria Sophia <mariasophia@comprehension.com> - 2026-08-16 10:26 -0800

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