PushBullet: Pushbullet says it has to fight Play Store's automated surveillance to stay on Android

The official app store for Android , the Play Store, is considered the premier resource for the best Android apps. While there are many third-party app hubs that serve as alternatives to the Play Store, most Android app developers prefer Google's services due to the size of their audience. But with volume in mind, it's no secret that the company had to rely on artificial intelligence to make decisions about app approval and removal. There are downsides to relying on AI and machine learning models to monitor. The latest victim of the above shortcomings, his Pushbullet, is telling the story. ANDROIDPOLICE VIDEO OF THE DAY ANDROIDPOLICE VIDEO OF THE DAY ANDROIDPOLICE VIDEO OF THE DAY ANDROIDPOLICE VIDEO OF THE DAY Ryan Oldenburg, founder and CEO of productivity-focused apps, charted his team's experience on the Play Store since June 2020. Our automated systems have sent out a total of seven violation notifications this week, for what we believe to be minor or virtually non-existent violations. Disclosure of Pushbullet's Privacy Policy. The development team didn't give much thought to the first few notifications, but as the so-called breaches took shape, it quickly became clear that they were the result of a less intelligent AI. . Oldenburg "suddenly" received his first notice of violation on June 9, 2020. In a notice (pictured below), Google asks the developer to provide a valid privacy policy and prominent disclosure regarding the publication of a user's contact information on her Pushbullet servers. "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> Acknowledging that this may have been a genuine breach on Pushbullet's part, the team pushed an update with the necessary changes. The comparison provided by Pushbullet gives you a good idea of what really changed between the old and new versions. "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-1-733934638″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-1-slides-container-1606946715″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-1-733934638″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-1-slides-container-1606946715″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-1-733934638″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-1-slides-container-1606946715″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-1-733934638″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-1-slides-container-1606946715″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-1-733934638″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-1-slides-container-1606946715″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-1-733934638″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-1-slides-container-1606946715″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-2-1742065321″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-2-slides-container-431940636″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-2-1742065321″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-2-slides-container-431940636″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-2-1742065321″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-2-slides-container-431940636″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-2-1742065321″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-2-slides-container-431940636″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-2-1742065321″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-2-slides-container-431940636″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-2-1742065321″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-2-slides-container-431940636″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> On July 7, 2021, a small update pushed by a developer received a rejection notice from Google. This is because developers do not mention their privacy policies in their apps and in the Play developer console. The developer then discovered that there was no link to the privacy policy within the page where the user could disable or enable SMS syncing for her. After making the necessary changes, the update was approved. "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> Much to Pushbullet's surprise and frustration, another small update they tried to push two weeks later was also rejected for the same reason. The team, who failed to understand the nature of the violation, created a dedicated privacy policy page mentioning the SMS sync feature and stored that page locally within his APK to avoid potential network related issues. decided to This seems to have temporarily resolved Pushbullet's privacy policy issue. "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> The developer received another surprise notification on February 12, 2022, but it wasn't for a recent app update. However, the violation was essentially the same as the previous one, and the developer displayed a dialog box that forced the user to manually confirm disclosures related to SMS and contact data collection (see below). figure). Pushbullet also moved her SMS privacy policy link to the top of the screen for good measure. Naturally, the change was approved by Google. "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-3-1232159200″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-3-slides-container-2003415523″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-3-1232159200″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-3-slides-container-2003415523″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-gallery-modal-id="gallery-modal-3-1232159200″ data-gallery-slides-container-id="gallery-modal-3-slides-container-2003415523″ data-img-caption="" ""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> "" data-modal-id="single-image-modal" data-modal-container-id="single-image-modal-container" data-img-caption=""""> On May 15th, we received another notification with a violation similar to the other notifications, but this time regarding SMS log information. At a loss for a solution, the company simply increased the text size of the link to its privacy policy within the app and successfully submitted the update. It will take some more time before we get yet another dreaded notice earlier this month claiming that the privacy policy disclosure is missing from the Play Console. To remedy this, the developers have decided to create a new policy that combines all disclosures and mentions them within the Play Console. The Pushbullet team then submitted an update that was later approved. The latest notification was made on October 26th (see below). This time, the team was criticized for not disclosing when his email address was sent to Pushbullet's servers while signed in using a Google account. As Oldenburg points out, this is a very strange