[Leica] OT: Are mobile apps evil?

[Peter Klein]

[sorry for the repetition, left the subject off when I sent this the first
time]

A question for people who may be more plugged in to the mobile app world
than me...

Is there some sort of attrition policy or concerted effort by the big
software and data companies to "break" things on mobile devices' standard
browsers so people will be forced to use apps?  And if so, is it just
certain companies, or is everybody doing it?

I got my iPad primarily so I could dictate emails and short bits of
writing. And because the gestures of a touch device are different from a
standard keyboard and mouse combination. All this meant better distributing
the load on my hands, which sometimes get overworked by too much
keyboarding, mousing and bassoon playing.  So far, it's worked well.

BUT... ever since iOS 8.1.1, using dictation (aka "Siri") in Facebook
replies generate a long, mixed-up word salad using the words I said, but
chopped up, re-ordered and repeated. I can *originate* a post with
dictation just fine, but not reply. The buttons to edit or delete FB posts
after the fact no longer work, and several other things are partially
broken as well. This all happens with Chrome as well as Safari. And
everything works just fine with the FB app.

The optimist in me says that this is just a by-product of the inevitable
bugs in a huge project like the iOS upgrade. The cynic in me says that this
is all about steering us towards apps, where our behavior can be ever more
deliberately tabulated, analyzed and sold to advertisers, and our eyeballs
ever-more-cleverly and frequently diverted to what "they" want us to see.
Recently FB said that as of November, they were going to send data about
users' browsing habits to their "affiliates and partners,"  even when the
users were not on FB.  And indeed, the most recent versions of the FB app
run in the background, even after you've closed the app.  I confirmed this
with a system checker app I have. And FB now knows" when I have new
notifications even when the app is supposedly closed.

That's why I deleted the app a while back.  But today, I got fed up with
the problem (not fixed in iOS 8.1.2), and I loaded the FB app again. So I
guess they've got me just where they want me.

Add to this a recent experience I had. I needed a case for my bassoon
bocals (the bent silver tube that goes between the reed and the
instrument). Bocal cases from a music store cost $60 and up.  But a
just-as-good alternative is $15 pistol case. I did a Google search for said
pistol case. I backed out of the first site when it asked me for my date of
birth and to donate money to preserve my Second Amendment rights. I
eventually bought the case on Amazon.  Now whenever I go on Amazon, they
try to sell me a gun. Not only that, eBay did the same thing a few times.
How did they know?  "They" are not supposed to look at each other's
cookies, but I guess they do. Or somehow in IP address I went to looking
for the pistol case got interpreted as "this guy is a gun owner."  Or some
other under-the-hood thing.  Regardless of how, it's creepy.

It seems to me that within a app, the safeguards are less, and "they" can
engage in more creepy behavior which is harder to detect or prevent.  I
don't wish to don a tinfoil hat, but I'm starting to get a more and more
suspicious of apps. It seems like in return for a smoother "experience," we
get to give up more and more of our information. They have sneakier and
sneakier ways of getting it, and it will be used in all sorts of ways.

So what should I do?  Fight?  Give up the Internet?  Take my Soma and be
happy?

--Peter