Adobe Reader Update Requests Gmail Permissions, Users Revolt
Adobe recently updated their Reader application for Android with support for more Android devices, including those with 3.0 Honeycomb. In order to open PDF email attachments, “Read Gmail” and “Read Email Attachments” permissions are requested. As might be expected, this got quite a few users worried about their privacy, and those worried users made their frustrations known through a bombardment of one-star reviews for the app.
As one user wrote, “you don’t need to see my email.” That is a perfectly acceptable, but the fact is even if Adobe is trying to violate the privacy of their users (which seems really farfetched), Reader holds no permissions to do anything with your emails after it reads them. The app doesn’t request permission to access the internet or to broadcast your data in any other way such as SMS. While user privacy is a big issue with recent location tracking scares and what not, the whole situation seems a bit overblown.
Adobe has yet to respond to the angry mob asking for the head of Reader on a silver platter. Our gut feeling is your safe to download and use the app as always without fear.
[via Android Market | Thanks, Jason!]