Slashdot Mirror
HTC Android Smartphone Stores Browsing Screenshots
Mad Hamster writes "Boy Genius Report points out that the HTC Droid Incredible, using the Sense UI, 'will periodically store screenshots of the contents of your web browser.' These shots are stored in such a way that they are not easily deleted. 'They remain when the current browser session is closed, they remain after you clear the browser history, and they remain after a full factory reset,' though there is a way to delete them manually."
Since when does clicking a file and pressing delete qualify as "not easily deleted"?
Troll.
Has nothing to do with Google.
The images are not sent anyplace... they live on the SD card and factory wipes don't format your SD card.
It's all working as intended and the story might well be labeled a troll as well.
Besides, iPhones did this too.
I don't see the fanboys running for the hills.
Why accept the obvious answer when you can assume the paranoid answer?
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Nope, just a case of someone not turning off the Browser Favorites widget.
All I can say is "duh". Turn it off and you're fine. It's called a "cache file" so it can display that big static thumbnail image in the widget if you choose to use it.
If you aren't suspicious of your government's actions, you aren't doing your job as a responsible citizen.
The article is misleading.. they're on internal storage if you don't have an sd card.
They're also *only* created for bookmarks.. if you don't make it a bookmark, no thumbnail gets created.
Sorry, but I don't want a reset clearing any user data on persistent storage.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
It’s not the SD card, and people stating otherwise are lying. That is part of my point.
I really wish you and that commodore64 kid would leave the Slashdot I know and love with your paranoid delusional trolling.
./sdcard/.footprints/thumbnails/1272099190529.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/mcd0bb890.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/scd0bb890.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/m46bb1b3c.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/s46bb1b3c.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/mdabb3bb3.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/sdabb3bb3.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/m66c70c76.jpg ./sdcard/.bookmark_thumb1/s66c70c76.jpg
C:\android-sdk-windows\tools>adb shell
# find . -name *.jpg | grep -v -e customize -e contacts -e wallpaper -e DCIM | more
[snipped for brevity, more of the same follows]
the /emmc/ folder that's present on some Android devices (including the incredible) is a mount point for the internal eMMC storage. it's a bus for a type of embedded flash memory (like SDHC for removable cards).
when there's no SD card, the phone might choose to use this embedded storage (or might choose to use it for other reasons).. it's not really the same as the "internal storage" (which is wiped in a factory reset).
this is a simple oversight on the part of HTC and/or the Android team - not making it more obvious, on devices that have eMMC (very few models of which exist yet), that this is another persistent area of storage that needs to be treated like the SD card when it comes to privacy concerns.
there is no conspiracy here, just innocent mistakes in a massive contribution-driven software project.