When angry birds has access to my entire contact list, it’s time to reconsider how great my iPhone is. Why does this extremely popular game have unprecedented access to my personal information? Well, I don’t know. I never explicitly said it was ok, but in the current technology reality we live in, I didn’t explicitly say it wasn’t ok either. Not that I could have. It’s not even that our terms and conditions rule us, I do read the fine print, it’s that they can change at any minute.

I want to feel that I am in control of my technology and not the other way around. Digital literacy is important to me in that regard. On an Android phone, when installing an app, it actually tells you that the app will be accessing x, y and z aspects of your phone. Uncomfortable with the fact that Pandora has access to your phone ID, or why Shazam is transmitting your location to third parties or Bejeweled 2 is forwarding your phone number on? Perhaps people wouldn’t install the apps in the first place if they knew what they were signing off on in doing so.

I travel around the world and I’m constantly shocked by the poor mobile service that Americans get compared to the rest of the world. The gouging prices are relatively higher than in certain parts of the world and particularly given the fact that I can hardly place a call. The beautiful user interface and the rich set of tools in the app store are offset by the fact that the phone part of my iPhone is almost entirely useless.

Read the rest at Huffington Post…

“iSmash iPhone” by scribbletaylor