Deceptive language frequently used against consumers: Difference between revisions

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 Despite using benevolent-seeming phrases such as "enhance our service" and " offer additional content", the actual aim of the change was to place large and obtrusive adverts in users' homes.
+== Removing practicality and usefulness to "clean" up or "streamline" the experience ==
+=== Fewer ports on modern laptops ===
+In the 2000s and early 2010s, three or four USB ports built into laptops were not uncommon. Modern laptops in contrast usually feature one or two USB-A ports and might feature an USB-C port, in addition to less modular and less upgradeable parts.<ref>[https://archive.today/2022.12.17-000103/https://www.easydongle.com/why-do-new-laptops-have-less-ports/ Why are so many laptops having less ports?] - easydongle</ref>
+=== Google wants to help cleaning up MicroSD cards by denying normal write access ===
+MicroSD cards became a major selling point of Android smartphones compared to iPhones, allowing the expansion of the storage capacity by multiple times at a time where smartphone internal storage capacities were only in the double-digit gigabytes. In addition, MicroSD cards make it easy to rescue data from a broken smartphone and to get immediate free storage within minutes without hour-long file transfers.
+In Android 4.4 KitKat, Google revoked normal write access to the MicroSD card through applications installed by the user, with the exception of folders dedicated to each app at "<code>Android/data/(package name)</code>". The write access could not be restored through a setting in the menu, only through rooting.
+Google's argument was to ensure no app can leave files behind after uninstallation:
+<blockquote>
+The WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission must only grant write access to the primary external storage on a device. Apps must not be allowed to write to secondary external storage devices, except in their package-specific directories as allowed by synthesized permissions. Restricting writes in this way ensures the system can clean up files when applications are uninstalled.
+</blockquote>
+* If this was the actual goal, they would have done the same on internal storage. How come they initially only applied these restrictions to MicroSD, not internal storage? This was in 2014, where 32 GB were considered an average amount of internal storage, while MicroSD cards could be much larger, so the same files would have taken a lower percentage of the space.
+* If an app leaves unwanted files, the user would simply uninstall the app and not use it again.
+* Google is assuming judgement over which files are to be considered "junk". This is a decision of the device owner. If the device owner wants to remove "junk", they could already use the delete button in their file manager. Google is assuming that third-party apps leave unwanted files by default.
+* There are valid reasons not to delete files left behind by an uninstalled app. What if you used a third-party camera app or text editor? Should all files you created with these apps be deleted if you uninstall the app? Of course not.
+* MicroSD cards were one of the major selling points of Android smartphones over iPhones. Google attacked one of the main reasons people bought Android smartphones in the first place.
+* If the device owner doesn't trust an app with access to the entire MicroSD card, perhaps they should not be using that app in the first place. Why would a user trust the same app with normal write access to internal storage but not the MicroSD card?
+* In any case, the device owner should have been given the final say. A simple toggle in the storage options would have done the job. The device owner must be able to decide if they want so-called "protections" that are muzzles, not shields.
+With this, Google created a much bigger problem than they solved. Those supposed "junk files" aren't nearly as bad as losing normal write access to the MicroSD card and external USB OTG, which were among Android smartphones' biggest selling points. It's like attacking a fly using a tank.
+Keep in mind, this was at a time when stock Android didn't even have a built-in file manager. Some vendors like Samsung included a file manager, but on stock Android, there was no way you could manage your files on the MicroSD card without root access or from an external device.
+Google quickly realized that removing MicroSD write access almost completely was perhaps no good idea, so they brought it back with Android 5.0, however only through Google's Storage Access Framework, which is extremely slow as already discussed earlier in the article, and broke compatibility with all the existing apps developed over the years.
 ==References==
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