AXS "Spyware" claim debunked on reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/bkxj9k/misinformation_and_the_latest_blizzcon_controversy/
This post basically breaks down what the real app permissions are when installed on your phone, and how they work(based on Android/Play store info).
The other post from reddit was a huge overreaction based on ignorance and misunderstanding just like the post about it here on GD.

  1. AXS is not tracking your every movement and stealing all your personal info.
  2. You can say no to GPS tracking
  3. The original list of permissions posted was not from the Play store
  4. It can be used only for verification of your ticket and nothing else.
  5. The actual privacy policy is nothing like what was reported in the OP of the other thread.

Yes smart phones and apps can be intrusive, but they don’t just hijack all your information without you agreeing to it, and in this case it doesn’t even ask for permission for half the things the fearmongers said it did.
Social media and associated apps are already taking far more from us in terms of privacy, AXS is just your standard, run of the mill app.

*edit - I hope the fearmongering didn’t deter anyone who actually wanted to attend Blizzcon, timing was bad considering first ticket batch was just sold.

53 Likes

Yeah it definitely sounded farfetched.

I mean if you’re going to hate on this decision hate on how much of a pain it is to have to download an app instead of just flashing a ticket.

5 Likes

This is copy paste of the permission required from the Google Play store:

This app has access to:

Contacts

  • read your contacts

Location

  • approximate location (network-based)
  • precise location (GPS and network-based)

Camera

  • take pictures and videos

Wi-Fi connection information

  • view Wi-Fi connections

Other

  • receive data from Internet
  • view network connections
  • pair with Bluetooth devices
  • full network access
  • prevent device from sleeping
  • view network connections
  • read battery statistics
  • pair with Bluetooth devices
  • access Bluetooth settings
  • full network access
  • run at startup
  • control vibration
  • prevent device from sleeping
  • modify system settings
47 Likes

You don’t grant all that by simply installing it unless you’re running a seriously farking ancient version of Android. For I think the past 4 versions of Android, the app is installed with no permissions at all, and when the app tries to access things the system presents a permissions prompt.

In short, as long as your phone was made before the last ice age, the AXS app only has access to what you give it access to, and it functions perfectly with zero permissions.

9 Likes

Why are you defending a multinational company who is forcing you to install spyware on your phone at a time when they have specifically stated their intent to saturate the mobile gaming market simply to enter a show which you already payed to enter? Seriously these companies should be paying us for this data if they’re going to monetize it.

87 Likes

The list of permissions sound intrusive enough.
There is no real need for a ticketing app to require so many permissions.

58 Likes

I can’t emphasize this more.

It’s creepy what society has come to accept as tolerable when it comes to this. Stranger comes up to you and asks you for list of all your friends. Asks if they can put a tracking collar on you. Ask to know everything you buy and look at.

It’s creepy and in the last few years we’re starting to learn how dangerous this can all be. The world is changing and information is power. Big data can be used for more than to just sell you a can of coke.

59 Likes

The AXS app permissions are not different than ANY other app.

Here’s the permission of the Dunkin Donuts app:

This app has access to:

Contacts

  • read your contacts

Location

  • approximate location (network-based)
  • precise location (GPS and network-based)

Phone

  • directly call phone numbers

Photos/Media/Files

  • read the contents of your USB storage
  • modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

Storage

  • read the contents of your USB storage
  • modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

Camera

  • take pictures and videos

Wi-Fi connection information

  • view Wi-Fi connections

Literally almost exactly the same as the AXS app. This is all pretty standard stuff if you start actually checking the permissions on the apps you may have installed.

But I forgot, this involves Blizzard and we are on the WoW forums, so it must be some big conspiracy.

43 Likes

First off, because it’s not spyware if you use it only for ticket purposes. The app literally cannot access anything you do not give it access to, and it works perfectly fine if you deny it access to everything and only use it for ticket purposes.

Second, because Blizzard isn’t using this of their own choice but because the venue that Blizzcon is held in uses AXS for all of its events.

Third, because uninformed internet rage is stupid regardless of its target.

31 Likes

Why is it asking for that access?

Why?

21 Likes

" *AXS shares all of this information with a laundry list of advertisers, marketers, unknown “Clients,” and third party services. Including but not limited to: Google, DoubleClick Ads (which is the company responsible, in part, for most of the obnoxious banner ads around the web), Facebook, and basically whoever else the company feels like deserves this personal information. “We reserve the right to share your Personal Information with our current or future affiliated entities, subsidiaries, and parent companies,” says AXS’ privacy policy. “We may also share your Personal Information and other information with trusted third parties, such as our Partners, sponsors, or their affiliates and subsidiaries and other related entities for marketing, advertising, or other commercial purposes, and we may occasionally allow third parties to access certain Sites for marketing purposes.”

no they arnt going to see your info to anyone…lmao.

18 Likes

By default, it doesn’t. It only asks if you use features of the app that make use of those permissions – for example, it only asks for camera roll access if you try to use its social media features.

7 Likes

And that is also pretty much standard for ANY app on your phone if you look at their privacy statements.

13 Likes

I think it might have more to do with the PP from the post above you.

What it comes down to, is do they value your privacy, or do they want to make money off your information?

3 Likes

i dont have apps on my phone

2 Likes

Funny how everyone that said this and tried to calm the angry mob was told they were shills, flamed, insulted and eople argued till they were blue in the face that they were making light of a serious issue…

:thinking:

7 Likes

It wants access to your location for nearby promotions/events and it asks for permission when you install, if you deny it, it changes nothing.

It will ask to access your contacts if want to transfer tickets to someone else and use your contacts to make it easier. You can transfer the tickets without giving access.

The rest is the same permissions you’ll see in any app. Most never use those features, but include them in the permission for future changes.

None of this is out of the ordinary if you read the permission/privacy statement of any phone app.

9 Likes

Then you are one of the few.

Doesn’t change the fact that everything this app asks for in terms of permissions is the same as any other app people may have on their phone.

10 Likes

show youtube app terms then

I just recorded the installation of the AXS app on my iPhone. Here’s what it asks for at launch. Note that it works just fine when I deny it permission…

If people want I can do it for Android too, but it won’t be much different.

12 Likes