Location
Online
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
3-1-2023 12:00 AM
End Date
7-1-2023 12:00 AM
Description
The common mechanism for controlling security and privacy data on mobile platforms is through the app permissions model. Platform owners evolve the model through changes to the APIs provided to app developers. This however places increased responsibility on app developers to determine the privileges they need to deliver the app’s functionality. In this paper, we investigate the factors influencing an app developer to seek permissions for privileged access in the context of the Android mobile platform. We find that the apps facing higher competition in their category or targeted at more mature audiences seek more permissions from users. However, apps charging higher prices for downloads ask for a lower number of permissions. The findings suggest that market conditions incentivize app developers to seek more privileges whereas a revenue stream such as download price does not. Therefore, more control exercised by the platform owner on the conditions of their app market would be more beneficial to the platform from the security and privacy perspective.
Recommended Citation
Wei, Jia and Mallampalli, Kamesh, "Effect of App Market Conditions on Permissions Usage by App Developers" (2023). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2023 (HICSS-56). 4.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-56/st/mobile_app_development/4
Effect of App Market Conditions on Permissions Usage by App Developers
Online
The common mechanism for controlling security and privacy data on mobile platforms is through the app permissions model. Platform owners evolve the model through changes to the APIs provided to app developers. This however places increased responsibility on app developers to determine the privileges they need to deliver the app’s functionality. In this paper, we investigate the factors influencing an app developer to seek permissions for privileged access in the context of the Android mobile platform. We find that the apps facing higher competition in their category or targeted at more mature audiences seek more permissions from users. However, apps charging higher prices for downloads ask for a lower number of permissions. The findings suggest that market conditions incentivize app developers to seek more privileges whereas a revenue stream such as download price does not. Therefore, more control exercised by the platform owner on the conditions of their app market would be more beneficial to the platform from the security and privacy perspective.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-56/st/mobile_app_development/4