Can Sonic Snoop on Your Calls?
Today, Sega announced availability of Sonic 4: Episode I on the Android Marketplace for $3.99. It means a much wider array of mobile phones powered by the Android OS 2.1 and up will have access to Sonic’s latest 2D romp.
But before you download, there is one thing you should consider, especially if you value your privacy. According to the game’s Android page under “Permissions,” the application will have access to your phone number, and potentially know who you’re calling:
READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY
Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that call is connected to and the like.
Two other Sega titles on the marketplace, ChuChu Rocket! and Sonic CD, do not utilize these type of permissions. Another one, Fallen Realms, does. It’s not clear why Sega needed it for this game, or if such access will even be utilized to the company’s marketing advantage, which is likely why this type of data would be collected. We will work to find answers on the matter and bring you anything more that we learn.
Loading ...
“Continue where the Sonic CD saga left off!”
What in the world is this? One game is saga? Funny they talked up Episode 1 taking place right after Sonic & Knuckles, but then again the PR plan for Sonic 4 is clearly about lying to people. Calling it now when EP2 is more of the same they will say it’s because they didn’t want to deviant from the formula because EP1 is on so many devices now
What is going on in the internet world? Jesus Christ, is privacy not sacred anymore?
Snooping as usual, I see Sonic?
There actually has been a large amount of app devs using device Unique ID numbers for advertising and login purposes, on both Android and iOS. While I highly doubt Google will limit access to this (look at the privacy disclosure SEGA had to make to get that access), Apple is removing dev access to UUID in an upcoming iOS update to address privacy concerns.
@SSJSonicXX14 They didn’t say it takes place right after CD, CD’s just very important to the story. CD takes place between Sonic 1 and 2, and then the rest of the series happens until S3&K, then S4E1 happens, then Eggman resorts to rebuilding Metal Sonic, which despite happening way after CD, is still a continuation of its events. Gee, sure was hard to figure that out!
That’s the least important reason why you shouldn’t buy this piece of shit!
We are http://www.alexross.com/81382-big.jpg Big Brothered. Nothing fair about that right? Marketing…hmmm I guess they don’t understand how to use the forums…that’s where the juicy info usually is isn’t it? I shouldn’t give them ideas LOL.
Hehe, doesn’t concern me since my android device doesn’t receive calls.
@SSJSonicXX14:
Maybe they’re talking about Sonic CD, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles being the Sonic CD Saga? ^-^
Afterall, it did start with Sonic CD after Sonic 2, and then Sonic 3, then Sonic & Knuckles followed. All other games going on during 1993 and 1994 were merely just “spin-off” games.
The way you put it actually kind of made sense out of this for me
Maybe when you talk bad about Sonic 4 on the phone, it sends a message to like… rudely vibrate on your face or something…
This is why I have S4 EP.1 on the consoles.
The only reason I would see that they have this type of permission on the phone is because some people, and I can neither confirm nor deny my abilities to do such a thing, know how to take the program from the phone itself and distribute it. Granted it’s a long and enduring process, but my placing these permissions on the title it would require the original phone number and serial from the phone itself.
If you legitimately transfer your phone number from say T-Mobile to Sprint (Which I recently did) then the premissions would transfer since it is a legal transaction.
Mind you this is just my technical opinion on the matter.
Oh, Sonic, y u b creepin’? X3