Re: Also consider Bluetooth
"Why does it need location permission to talk to a bluetooth device ?"
This is because Bluetooth can be used to determine location. From the Android developer's guide:
A location permission is required because Bluetooth scans can be used to gather information about the location of the user. This information may come from the user's own devices, as well as Bluetooth beacons in use at locations such as shops and transit facilities.
This highlights a pretty serious problem with the Android permission scheme -- it's too coarse and some of the permissions are required for unexpected reasons. I've been wishing that they'd fix this whole mess from the first time that I was exposed to it.
Requiring location permission to use Bluetooth is understandable from one point of view, but it makes little sense in the larger scheme of things -- if the permission is required for the reason they cite, then the permission would logically be required for a whole host of other things as well, none of which are more than tangentially related to location. Requiring this permission for such a wide array of things renders the permission a bit pointless, as users will rapidly learn they have to just accept it in order to do most of what they want to do.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
