> but seriously it's illegal to upload that info to FB?
In Germany, it is.
Relevant quote from the Whatsapp TOS (Whatsapp belongs to Facebook):
> Address Book. You provide us the phone numbers of WhatsApp users and your other contacts in your mobile phone address book on a regular basis. You confirm you are authorized to provide us such numbers to allow us to provide our Services.
It's a bit lengthy (and difficult!) to translate. In summary it's a child custody case about excessive smartphone use in which the court orders the mother, among others things (limiting smartphone usage) to get written consent from all contacts in the child's addressbook.
The issue is that in Germany, your contact data is "copyright" be yourself. You don't have to put up with people freely resharing your contacts and theoretically, the child could have been "sued"(+) by anyone in the addressbook who isn't also a Whatsapp user.
(+) There is a "light version" of "sueing someone" in Germany, called "Abmahung", which is frivously used by some law firms.
That's kinda the problem: there are no non-profit, voice recognition DA's out there (presumably because voice recognition requires a lot of research and a ton of audio samples - I think, Mozilla tried to get into this?).
We got Google Now, Alexa, Siri and Cortana. Google Now and Alexa are obviously tied into an eco system that has one goal: engaging the user till he buys something. With Siri and Cortana its more like the old "lock the customer in (so he eventually buys more of our stuff)" thing.
> Does it allow you to download APKs and update them without a Google account?
No, Google Play can't be accessed anonymously (the whole point of all Google services is to coerce you into signing up for an account, so you can be tracked). You can (and should), however, create a throw away account exclusively for Raccoon.
> Can you use it to avoid installing anything Google-related on a phone?
Yes, Raccoon gives you the APK, which you can then sideload on your phone. Unless the app in question depends on something Google related, you are good to go.
In Germany, it is.
Relevant quote from the Whatsapp TOS (Whatsapp belongs to Facebook):
> Address Book. You provide us the phone numbers of WhatsApp users and your other contacts in your mobile phone address book on a regular basis. You confirm you are authorized to provide us such numbers to allow us to provide our Services.
Relevant german court order:
http://www.lareda.hessenrecht.hessen.de/lexsoft/default/hess...
It's a bit lengthy (and difficult!) to translate. In summary it's a child custody case about excessive smartphone use in which the court orders the mother, among others things (limiting smartphone usage) to get written consent from all contacts in the child's addressbook. The issue is that in Germany, your contact data is "copyright" be yourself. You don't have to put up with people freely resharing your contacts and theoretically, the child could have been "sued"(+) by anyone in the addressbook who isn't also a Whatsapp user.
(+) There is a "light version" of "sueing someone" in Germany, called "Abmahung", which is frivously used by some law firms.