In this age of the internet, privacy and security are major concerns. So when it was reported that iOS apps were caught accessing clipboard data, it's understandable that people were more than worried. Most companies have already fixed or started to fix this issue, however, with Reddit and LinkedIn the next to do so.
For some context, this issue started after users on iOS 14 beta started getting notifications that apps were accessing their clipboard content. According to LinkedIn VP Erran Berger, what the apps are doing is checking whether the content on the clipboard and what's being typed into a text box matches. He insisted that the app, at least the LinkedIn app, doesn't store or transmit the data. Reddit has also responded to this issue and now both companies are promising to fix it, according to Engadget.
Hi @DonCubed. Appreciate you raising this. We've traced this to a code path that only does an equality check between the clipboard contents and the currently typed content in a text box. We don't store or transmit the clipboard contents.
— Erran Berger (@eberger45) July 3, 2020
All the other apps that are doing so were likely using the same method for various reasons. For example, Reddit claimed that its code checks for web links in the clipboard so that it can suggest Reddit posts based on that. Sounds harmless enough, but if Reddit can sneakily do this without informing users, what else could it do? Even if the app doesn't transfer any data, users should be allowed to block such snooping from happening.
Thankfully the iOS 14 beta brought this issue to light, so now app developers will be forced to fix it. But what do you think about the whole issue, is it as harmless as developers insist? Share your thoughts with us on our Facebook page and stay tuned to TechNave.com for more news.
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