What OS developers could do to improve mobile device users' privacy/security
Smartphones are great. They have all of your friends' numbers and email addresses, they can surf the web virtually anywhere, and they can even play Angry Birds. But there is one annoying problem with them.
In any app market, such as Apple's App Store or Google's Android Market, there will be a few apps from time to time that may be a little naughty (or downright despicable). They could root your phone, steal your contacts, or use up all of your tiered data plan. How can operating system developers prevent this?
For starters, they could put security software in their OS.
For instance, since Apple has been working with security experts for OS X Lion, they could do the same thing with iOS, making it more secure. However, iOS isn't as insecure as Android is. As much as I love Android, the Market is a complete mess. It is probably filled with hundreds and hundreds of questionable apps that could compromise a user's data, whether that would be contact lists or purchasing apps with a remembered credit card number.
Another thing that developers could try is to tighten down the app approval process even more. Apple has been known to let inappropriate apps slide in before. Maybe they could extend the app approval process by another week? That would allow some more quality time for the app reviewers to delve deeper into an app's function.
And for Google? They should simply have rules. There's definitely a compromise that Google could strike between being completely open and completely locked down. And they need to find that compromise quickly, before the problem becomes a disaster.
Has your device ever been compromised in any way?
