Google Photos Uploading Your Pics, Even If You Don't Want It To

New submitter Adekyn writes that, according to David A. Arnott of The Business Journals, the Google Photos app will sync your photos — even after you have deleted the application from your device. From the article: All I had to do to turn my phone into a stealth Google Photos uploader was to turn on the backup sync, then uninstall the app. Whereas one might reasonably believe uninstalling the app from the phone would stop photos from uploading automatically to Google Photos, the device still does it even in the app’s absence. Since making this discovery, I have re-created the issue multiple times in multiple settings on my Galaxy S5. I reached out to Google, and after reaching someone on the phone and describing the issue, was told to wait for a comment. Several hours later, I received a terse email that said, “The backup was as intended.” If I want to stop it from happening, I was told I'd have to change settings in Google Play Services. A video of the process accompanies the article.

Comments

Stop the press. The TV is on even after ...

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

I discovered something astounding. I used a remote control to turn the TV on. Then I accidentally stepped on the remote and destroyed it completely. But the TV was still on. I did not understand why the TV was on even after I destroyed the remote. Called their tech support, they said if I wanted the TV to go off, I have to walk all the way to the TV and press on a designated location with some cryptic icon which they called a "switch". Not swipe, not single or double tap, press with a finger and let go, according to their tech support script. They claim this is the intended behavior.

Re: Stop the press. The TV is on even after ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Except that in your little analogy, uninstalling the app should correspond to taking the TV away. As a customer, that was my intent when I removed the app. Anything else is sneaky and borderline (?) malicious.

Re:Stop the press. The TV is on even after ...

[BasilBrush]

Your analogy just shows that you don't understand the problem. A TV switched on is very obvious. And it's not a privacy issue.
The problem described by the OP is not obvious, and is a privacy problem.

Re: Stop the press. The TV is on even after ...

[AvitarX]

It's non obvious that the app is not doing the back-up.

I understand what's going on, having read the summary, but I would not have guessed that deleting the app that asked me about back-up, and where I make my settings for the back-up, does not delete the back-up functionality

I don't think it's malicious, but I am surprised that Google is sticking to it being the right way for it work.

Re: Stop the press. The TV is on even after ...

[cbiltcliffe]

It's not multiple engines. That's the stupidest analogy I've ever heard.

It's more like this:

You have a car. Your speedometer says you're doing 60 in a 50 zone, so in order to prevent yourself from getting a speeding ticket, you remove the speedometer from the car. Then, you're both surprised it still moves, and surprised that you get a speeding ticket for doing 60 in a 50 zone, when your speedometer obviously didn't say you were doing that, so you couldn't possibly have been speeding.

Your speedometer isn't making the car move, and Google Photos isn't doing the backup. Google Photos is an app that runs only when you run it. If you set Google Sync to backup your photos, don't be surprised when it backs up your photos.

Google's desire to sell all things

[nefus]

Well thats just a bunch of horse hockey. If you uninstall an app, it's service related functions should stop. This is just some crazy thing google is doing to keep getting access to your data for analysis. They make money by analyzing everything you do online and with android products. In this instance, it is something they should be shamed for continuing to do after you removed the software.

Re:Google's desire to sell all things

[BasilBrush]

Don't attribute to malice that which can be sufficiently explained by incompetence.

Re:Google's desire to sell all things

[thegarbz]

Or maybe backup sync is a different program. No that can't be it at all. ZOMG THE CORPORATIONS ARE OUT TO GET OUR DATAZ!!!!

Re:Google's desire to sell all things

[ArcadeMan]

In this day and age, don't attribute to incompetence that which can be sufficiently explained by malice.

Re:Google's desire to sell all things

[TheGratefulNet]

sorry, but google, OF ALL COMPANIES, is not allowed to use the incompetance-card. they go around telling everyone that they have the smartest and brightest engineers. in the world. they constantly tell us this, directly and indirectly.

and so, that much hubris denies you the 'we didn't know!' card.

you knew. you FUCKING KNEW. don't give me that shit, google.

or, come clean and admit you are just another sweatshop employing drones in human skin who are just doing what they are told and have no ability to think on their own. you ready to admit that you hire yes-men and no one there would dare go against your oh-so-mighty data collection requirements?

I don't believe they hire super bright people, to be honest. they hire young kids who simly will do what they are told and will look the other way if you give them free lunch, free clothes and an employer name that still has a wow-factor to many.

the group-think is too strong to fight against the data collection monster. I dont' think any google employee would last if he/she stood up and spoke against a privacy violation on a user's data. as long as google gets to keep all your data, there is no such thing as privacy for users and its drilled into the employees, indirectly, but still drilled into them.

This just in...

[tomhath]

Google Photos is a different application than backup sync. More at 11.

Re:This just in...

[jellomizer]

Such! Quiet!, We want to be outraged on all things. We can be unreasonably outraged from all things, with bringing in logic and reason to the argument. What are you some sore of Unamerican, elitist academic or something.

But reasonable disclosure is important

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Deleting the app that you used to change a system-level setting used by other apps should NOT change the setting.

That's a reasonable policy, as long as it is absolutely clear in the app that:

1. it was a system-level setting you were changing,

2. the system would continue to honour that setting independent of the app, and

3. you could subsequently turn the system setting off again by doing X independent of the app.

However, if that wasn't clear, and this setting involves uploading data to Google silently and automatically, then the current behaviour is shady as hell. A device that is recording and/or uploading anything without its user's knowledge, or worse when its user explicitly thinks they have turned that behaviour off, is always a usability and privacy issue, and it is always the software developers' responsibility to fix it.