yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Android General] abdielol:
I recommend Boat Browser. It's very smooth and clean. I switched to it from dolphin and I've never looked back.
[Android General] Fnorder:
I remember trying boat. It failed my evaluation on two counts: The lower button bar wouldn't go away, and it constantly posted data to http://www.umeng.com/app_logs

[P] www.umeng.com:80/app_logs
post: T 10.23.1.220:38582 -> 211.151.139.246:80 [AP] H!}![K!1!!!!!'!!!K!7!A!!E!E|!Y!d!.M!!!H-!!N!!!!}!!!!sfV{!!!!!d!!!!!!#!I!v V-!!!(k!!T!k!!!!!2!j!!"G!A!!!5!A>!!!]!!`K!Tk!!!!`!!!!J^!XdT!jC!!!!!D!!&5C!!:W=!!S!!e D!!!!!g!G!!!!!!O!c!<!!!!!I!1!!!X!!!z!!!!!!1!!4#!!!!!!!!!0>!!!C{4%!:o!~!!!!!!tJ!!!!!!]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!C!C!!!!!qY!!5[#!M!!K(+*s!!!PI!u!!/J!!q!0!!!-!!!=?!g!!!Q\!!w!!!R!!!!!0!G3-V2!!U!m!5!q![!j!g!!Z9w!!eV!oC!!od!!!

I've not sifted through smali code to see -what- gets posted, but it does so every time you do something.
[Android General] phoenixs4r:
Damn it. All the other browsers suck.
[Android General] Tdiliplane:
try opera I guess its your only choice
[Android General] consegregate:
Dolphin mini doesn't have webzine right?
[Android General] idefiler6:
Stock ftw.
[Android General] hackeron:
can you check miren browser?
[Android General] onestoploser:
Ninesky browser kicks ass. Give that a shot.

Drunk texted from my Gingerbreation Bolt.
[Android General] Rytt55:
Ninesky

Is it safe to use Ninesky? It seems cool but it could be the same situation right?
[Android General] sahil04:
I tried it and it was fast and all but there seems there are many errors English wise that leads me to not want to trust the browser.

Does anyone know if it is safe to use dolphins 5 as I had a backup for it on my phone.
[Android General] Dansport:
Hi. My name is Dan and I'm a noob. I stumbled across this issue on the Android Police thread. I've been watching with peaked interest while it was sorted out.

First, thanks to Fnorder and Artem amd all the others who put so much effort into it.

So, here's my 2 cents. In short, I d*** sure don't want my surfing habits and (possibly) personal info being sent UNENCRYPTED over the internet. If Dolphin had been straight up about it, I wouldn't even have considered using it. Then they tried to hide it (read up). Then they lied about it. Then they pushed an update and said it was fixed. IMHO, another lie. Now we're getting word that *that* issue is fixed but geez, man, who knows what they'll do now?

I object vehemently to anyone who mines my usage but I put up with it where needed: I really have no choice. It's a Google phone. I use Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. I do my banking, e-mail and, of course, surfing through my browser since I don't want all those other apps draining my poor battery. As soon as I get the cajones, I'll root it and get the bloatware off of it. On the PC I use Firefox (mainly), IE for updates (only) and Chrome when FF pisses me off (again).

But there's more to the story than meets the eye. My HTC Aria on AT&T (Liberty, non-rooted, Froyo) is almost certainly a data gold mine. On my phone, all I have to do is turn on the data service and all hell breaks loose in the background:

App Sharing

AT&T Hotspots

AT&T Family Map

AT&T Maps

AT&T Navigator

Calendar (Google)

Facebook (don't get me started on this)

Footprints

Friend Stream

Gmail

Google Search

IM

Mail (Android)

Latitude

Maps (Google)

Market

News - and -

News and Weather

Peep

Stocks

Where (not supported but its on)

YouTube (see Facebook)

YPMobile

Honest. They're all in my running services right now. But I know what they are and what they do. Android Assistant rocks!

Google is biggest data miner IN THE WORLD and by gosh it's their operating system I'm using. Some have said that Opera is a good alternative. Did you know that Opera does exactly the same thing as Dolphin, though I'm (pretty) sure its encrypted, and you probably wouldn't use it if it didn't? You agreed to this: (from Opera's own specs page)

Sorry about the link, I'm still a noob, here, but you see my point. We're not going overboard about it, Dolphin is. I respect all of the opinions I see here and here's mine: Dolphin HD is a lying, privacy-invading, security-breaking phishing rod I can't condone.
[Android General] lgxmedia:
Uninstalled Dolphin HD, BUT installed Dolphin Mini instead.

I like Dolphin browser and I tested all other market browsers. Seems like mini version never had the privacy issue, only HD version had it.
[Android General] Koloses:
I've blocked domain mentioned in first post and checked if nothing is sended. Still using Dolphin :P
[Android General] KCRic:
So just to clarify, Dolphin Mini doesn't seem to have this issue, correct?

This data collection is really becoming outright insane. I understand the point of tailoring apps to the users needs. Why can't this be done locally? It's accomplished on computers all the time and in some mobile apps. Maybe if they encrypted the data, gave my specific limits on collection retention, and ASKED me if I would share it - problem solved.
[Android General] lexluthor:
Neither does Dolphin HD at this point.

If you think the Dolphin devs are malicious, you wouldn't want to use either program. If you are going to take them at their word and give them a pass, then you might as well just use Dolphin HD.
[Android General] zentren:
been fixed? are you sure they will not do it again? we are very lucky because Fnorder had found it.

They steal our data, I think they'll try to do it again, and hope we will not find it.

once a thief remains a thief.
[Android General] linux150:
Thanks for info

Back to miui browser ..

linux150
[Android General] DnaPolymerase:
Has anyone tested Ninesky Browser? It looked very simular to Dolphin to me, though I'm not sure it's safe.
[Android General] justmiike:
So is it still best to add those sites to the host? Or just trust the latest updates from now on?
[Android General] dizgustipated:
Talk to Samsung about it. (Dolphin browser)

Soucecode is on their page
[Android General] onestoploser:
Did you even read this thread before you posted your revelation there genius?

Drunk texted from my Gingerbreaton Bolt.
[Android General] dizgustipated:
Good to see you notice my genius,

Genius=(me) nice to meet you=(smartass)

Anyways.

someone smart/good at molding code

Could fix all that, like I see a few have tried.

Plus its info on who made it, who to talk to.... ect

Your poor public attitude is not funny/wanted/appreciated

To everyone else, who doesn't waste their time trolling....

I have contacted Samsung about these "privacy" issues.....

lol, they will apparently send me the information I requested.

whenever/whatever that actually means.

I like the broswer, but geez Samsung what a way to ruin something good! Again
[Android General] jpeloquin:
I recognize this is an Android forum, but in the event iPhone users are viewing, I thought I'd mention that I confirmed the iOS Dolphin browser does the same thing.

I had typed up a nice post like the OP to show the fruits of my analysis labor today, but alas, I'm a noob poster and no matter the /code, the BB picks up my entry as a link...

Suffice it to say, I replicated OP's test, and can confirm Dolphin is sending links and Google dorks to the mywebzine URI.

I really liked the webzine feature, but it looks like it's back to RSS for me. Also, I'd just started testing the Atomic browser for iOS - very pleased so far, though now I realize I'll have to analyze its use and traffic before making a final call.

- jp
[Android General] FadeFx:
Congratulationz you genius, we all, that have read the thread, do laugh at you, even the folks at Samsung will break down now, as u proved to them you are a real reading artist...

scnr

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[Android General] suxelexus:
-Guess I'll be uninstalling Opera as well...damn.thanks for the valuable info. Firefox seems to be pretty lagit, haha-maybe; better break out the magnifying glass. perhaps more stable and fast then previously... It disturbs me how our 'anonymous info' is constantly being collected in hushed tones and legal jargan, everywhere I turn. I mean it's the result of the technology we love, but hey, I go against the grain still, even when screens are greeting me by name and guiding me through the supermarkets.
[Android General] the_entity:
thank you man
[Android General] aminaked:
I don't think I'll be uninstalling Opera:

- Opera never lied about stuff like Dolphin

- Opera has always made it clear that the Turbo feature uses their servers to compress data. You can turn it off in the "Mobile Version".

- I haven't checked but I'll bet that Opera encrypts SSL URLs, unlike Dolphin

- Opera has been around for years and has a good reputation as far as I know, unlike Dolphin who have been proven untrustworthy at least once and incompetent several times

EDIT: lol, Dolfin
[Android General] docfreed:
Ninesky rocks - it's fast and I do not see anywhere that it transmits URL's. All Android browsers seem to have/request more permissions than needed (why, I have no @$#%** clue - that's probably due to the morons at Google) so in theory Ninesky could allow malicious stuff but I haven't seen any and this browser is much smoother than any I've tried so far.
[Android General] lawalty:
I'm sure that the Dolphin programmers had no intention of collecting data from their users, its more of a marketing ploy.

Just simply using Dolphin is saying "YES" to collect your surfing habits (its in the agreement (3rd point down) that you selected OKAY on). Hell, it even says there is something running in the background (I can't remember exactly what it says, just going off memory) collecting data.

I guess its how you view it. Marketers eat who surfs what for lunch everyday. Very valuable information on what your eyes are looking at, so they can set their add campaigns and how much to charge on that dumb banner adds.
[Android General] docfreed:
Are Any Android Browsers Safe...

@fnorder - if what you say is correct, and I have no reason to doubt your results, then it appears that all Android browsers transmit information to 3rd party sites.

Regardless of your opinion regarding the "goodness" of any browser per se, this would appear to be a major failing of Android and one that needs to brought to Google's attention forthwith.

It would appear that Google is evil after all!
[Android General] VDK:
Is Version 7.0.2 really safe? Anyone please help
[Android General] jiyucn:
Clarification from Boat Browser.

Boat Browser did send some information to Umeng. The information is not related with user privacy, especially URL history. Umeng ( http://www.umeng.com/) is a 3rd-parity dev tools for the android&ios developer, just like Google Analytics. There are already more than 5000 applications integrated with Umeng. Umeng helps us with "release update", "user feedback", "force close log collect" and "basic statistics" features.

1."Release update"

When the user open browser, we need to know if there is a new release available. We hope use could always get the latest stable release it they want.

2."User feedback"

The user could send feedback to us. (Actually to the Umeng’s server). User’s feedback helps us to improve our quality.

3."Force close log"

When some exception happens, we need the log to know what's wrong. Also helps us on application stability.

4."Basic Statistics"

We will collect the number of total installs by country, and the times of launch. But, we won't collect any private information, as you know, that means suicide to us.
[Android General] Fnorder:
Not all browsers. Stock, (the latest) dolphin, opera mobile (no turbo), xscope, zirco, firefox, and no doubt others that I'm not aware of are clean. Alot of others just report stats not related to private information though I consider that obnoxious as well.

It's not a problem with the platform's security model. This could just as easily occur in windows, linux, and any os (like dolphin has supposedly demonstrated on iphone). There's no way to make a permissions system to stop a browser from phoning home...how is one to tell the difference between legit traffic and this sort of thing? The privileged information is browsing history that comes from the app itself, and goes out via a protocol the app is made to make extensive use of.

The problem is devs that have a perverted opinion on where the line between their rights and user rights lay, and this is encouraged by the 'cloud computing' fad on the android platform.'Cloud' is great in certain applications where it provides a service (dropbox, google music, etc), but it's frequently implemented in stupid ways and has gotten out of control in it's spread.

Games do -not- need to report usage stats, much less in ways that tie in device id and google account IDs. I'm sure these stats are appreciated by devs, but f**k off, seriously, -paid- apps are doing this sort of thing (take your flurry and stuff it, apps organizer). And the 'free' paid-for-by-ads apps are demanding more and more, as the sdks the ad slinging firms put out become ever nosier.

Why does Pocket Frogs access FINE LOCATION, why does it need google c2dm, why is it cyclng through my contact list, and why is it checking to see if my phone is rooted? Because the MOBCLIX sdk wants to vomit all this through the cloud. And mobclix is just one of 5 organizations that phone home in that game, all with imei and course location.

Some may say "But cloud based DRM is good! Piracy, oh noes!", but I'm not going to buy an app that requires surgery with apktool to remove the glaring flaw of not knowing it's place.

Android needs sandboxing, with the ability to spoof information, badly. As far as url reporting in browsers, the only thing I can think of to stop that would be (lol) cloud based; a subscription list of blacklisted hosts and IPs, that's maintained as frequently as adblockplus lists.
[Android General] Fnorder:
I didn't find evidence of history forwarding, but:

It sends way too often (data plans aren't free), is not clearly disclosed, and should have an OFF switch.
[Android General] heartavenger:
Thanks for info ...I will stay with opera from now on bug or no privacy bug why keep a doubt
[Android General] jiyucn:
Dear Fnorder,

The coming release of Boat Browser will remove most of them. That would be helpful for saving data plan. :)
[Android General] justmiike:
Wait, isn't there an app that stops permissions for apps?
[Android General] FadeFx:
Yes, its lbe privacy guard, but would you want to cut internet access for your browser?

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[Android General] rogier666:
The paid bannerless version of Dolphin phoned the same info home as the free version.

There are a couple of apps that kill permissions, but they are all-or-nothing sledgehammers: full internet permission or no internet at all.

You're better off with a hosts file editor like AdAway that lets you lock your copy of Dolphin out of its own servers.
[Android General] Fnorder:
That's a good start, and will probably reduce the battery drain I noticed people complaining about.

Consider adding an off switch.

If not, consider making a paid version with absolutely no 'phone home' behavior...I would buy it, especially if options were added to disable search autocomplete, and to make the bottom icon bar hidden until toggled with the menu key.
[Android General] primetechv2:
Ode to Why Dolphin Sucks.

Webzine.

Stalking.

The end.
[Android General] DnaPolymerase:
I thought it was quite good on my mobile, but it seems I was wrong. Privacy first.

Thank you, I'll switch to Opera.

...or maybe I'll try boat browser. Never tried it, so, why not? I'll wait the next update though. :)
[Android General] kobby2k6:
since i edited the host , i can't download files with the dolphin browser anymore...i removed the line from "hosts" and I still can't download files anymore in the browser...is that just me lol??

ps. stock browser still downloads files
[Android General] FadeFx:
Yes, just you...

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[Android General] mattiaswang:
I think I need to use another browser now...
[Android General] vincent47me:
thanks for this, im a dolphin fan.. i think i need to use opera?
[Android General] AlbertHu:
Dolphin's collection of your browsing history

i'm a big fan of dolphin. It rocks.
[Android General] lawalty:
I agree! I think the Dolphin browser is pretty much the best browser out there, except that small little feature that it sends data on what you surf to somewhere else...

Now now now, I understand that (I guess) if your not doing anything illegal or questionable, then WHY NOT USE IT?!?! Who cares they only use the data for marketing! So what?

Its just principal.

Their premium version should NOT record our surfing habits, or at least an OFF switch or something... but (sadly) no. :(
[Android General] Ed_Gein:
I got rid of dolphin when this started to surface but I'm getting more and more fed up with firefox and opera so I'm considering going back since they say they fixed it but one permission struck me as odd: Your Personal Information -> Read Sensitive Log Data

I'm getting curious since i do not see the need for this permission, and no other browser I've tried has it...

What gives?
[Android General] lawalty:
Yeah! When you reinstalled it, you should have read the user agreement terms, and check the 3rd point down. It says that just by using the browser, you agree to have your data collected. It even says something like something running in the background collecting your data..

I don't know abut Dolphin. There really wasn't anything broken for them to fix, they just got caught!
[Android General] Ed_Gein:
Thought about reinstalling... This put me of it...
[Android General] FadeFx:
if you use cm7 you can just go to manage applications and revoke this permission.
[Android General] jpeloquin:
Very well said, and thanks to you reporting the problem, we may yet be able to enjoy the Dolphin browsing experience without it logging our browsing habits.

From the Dolphin blog:

Ironically, it's clear they didn't have a technical person assist with their PR. At the end of the day, en dot mywebzines dot com lives on a webserver, which is going to log access, and since mywebzines is essentially a proxy server, it is absolutely storing users' information in one or more logs on the server.

Anyway, cheers to Fnorder for disclosing the information. I don't believe the Dolphin developers did this with malintent. It's just another example of mobile application development's "wild west" status, and further proof that rushing a mobile app to market without thorough testing will result in quality issues - privacy, security, or usability-related, if not all three.
[Android General] mldiroff:
This. I'm frustrated with basically everything else. Have even resorted to messing with Skyfire!
[Android General] waaahsabi:
I think the point that a lot of people are still missing is:

If you're not paying for the product, you are the product.

If that's services like Facebook, Google+ or whatever, or software like Dolphin & Co, they will all try to make money. And if they're not taking if from you as the user, then...

Have a good read here about a company named "Klout", and you know what you're up to with most "free" services and apps created by companies.
[Android General] Rico ANDROID:
Yup, what You Get For Free Paid For With Your Privacy

True! Its the same when downloading free stuff from certain site, etc. the tradeoff is your privacy to a degree...
[Android General] djcr33p:
My problem with browsers that aren't the stock and dolphin is text reflow on zoom. This really pisses me off when I zoom in on a page it just zooms in and I have to move the window around from left to right to read the text. The stock (on cyanogen) and dolphin reflow the text to fit the zoomed in view. Unless I'm being a 'tard, boat and miren don't employ this feature!?
[Android General] wileyvic:
I personally switched to boat as my dolphin HD replacement when surfing wifi and it reflows the text perfectly when zooming in and out. You just have to give the text a quick double tap once you've got the desired zoom to initiate the reflow. You may also have to enable the feature in settings. I'll check and see.

Update: just checked and you need to have the option "auto-fit page" set to on for the text to reflow on double taps. Otherwise the text remains static regardless of zoom level. Also remember if you used a pinch to zoom give the screen a quick double tap on the text you wish to read otherwise the text by default won't change. This is just so it doesn't waste processor power if you only need to temporally zoom a photo or other feature before quickly zooming back out.

Sent from my Telus SGH-T959D running DarkysROM 10.2.2 using the XDA App.
[Android General] djcr33p:
Eh, that's weird... I take it back. It wasn't reflowing on double-tap before but now it is... will give it a run.

---------- Post added at 04:01 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:56 PM ----------

Now all I need is all the sweet plugins that dolphin offered, create PDF, read it later etc? Any solutions for those with boat?
[Android General] wileyvic:
No sorry, I wasn't very plugin dependent. Only use boat cause flash seems to work when I need it and it has a decent user agent switcher. Otherwise I stick with opera mini when using 3g for it's data compression. Unfortunately my data plan is small.

Sent from my Telus SGH-T959D running DarkysROM 10.2.2 using the XDA App.
[Android General] Rico ANDROID:
What about Web Securiy Apps for Non Stock

I have Norton Mobile Security (BETA...not updating).. that only scan the stock browser for suspicious sites.. but doesn't scan dolphin or other third party browser apps?

Is there "an app fer that?"
[Android General] meehog:
I'll carry on using Dolphin, I can handle a few targeted ads being sent my way for me to ignore, and I don't really look at anything on the internet that I wouldn't want anybody to know about. I know fine well that I'm being spied on, lied to, manipulated, having my privacy violated etc in many ways that I don't even notice, by organisations much bigger, scarier and sinister than Dolphin browser. If you really tried hard to keep your privacy totally, you'd end up a paranoid nervous wreck.
[Android General] mehms:
If I'm not wrong, Dolphin has already rectified the matter in latest release. Then again, I don't use Dolphin Browser anyway. Dolphin Mini Browser users are safe though.
[Android General] lawalty:
They "said" they fixed it. But, when you updated to their latest release, you had to agree to their latest policy ussage agreement. If you read all the mumbo-jumbo in section 3, it PLAINLY says that it collects your data.

After reading a few of these recent posts, and some others on different threads, people realy don't mind getting spied on... hell, as long as they feel their not doing anything wrong, then why make a big deal about it? Dolphin browser is one of the best browsers out there, so I guess its okay to sacrifice our privacy for a better experience. So what, if they keep a tally on where you go on the internet..

So what?..
[Android General] Rico ANDROID:
I think I will give tbem "hairy porn" to analyse! Heh heh, seriously might let it run in the background and see what they do with that data.

I tried modifying a copy of Dolphin HD version 4.6.1 with App Shield. I selected all the references to bookmarks and stripped these permissions from D-HD, then installed the modified apk.... The dayamn thing will not open when removing the bookmark permissions..

https://market.android.com/details?...DEsImNvbS5nbWFpbC5leGF0aGluay5hcHBzaGllbGQiXQ..
[Android General] mehms:
Hahaha! Yeah, so what? Everyone should spam Hairy Porn on Dolphin Browser.
[Android General] FadeFx:
i modified the hosts file to block en.mywebzines.com i however am not sure if this is enough, could be that we need to block other urls as well
[Android General] monomono1:
I agree, if some anonymous person/company sees where I surf, I don't care.
[Android General] Rico ANDROID:
Any way I can get a copy of your modified version? Any restriction on permissions is better than no restriction...Else I will give them a couple of "Dolphins" to ponder... "Brutus on Brutus" they get...