Sonic 4: Episode I Now Available on Android, With a Privacy Risk

Today, Sega announced availability of Sonic 4: Episode I on the Android Marketplace for $3.99.  It means a much wider array of mobile phones powered by the Android OS 2.1 and up will have access to Sonic’s latest 2D romp.

But before you download, there is one thing you should consider, especially if you value your privacy.  According to the game’s Android page under “Permissions,” the application will have access to your phone number, and potentially know who you’re calling:

READ PHONE STATE AND IDENTITY
Allows the application to access the phone features of the device. An application with this permission can determine the phone number and serial number of this phone, whether a call is active, the number that call is connected to and the like.

Two other Sega titles on the marketplace, ChuChu Rocket! and Sonic CD, do not utilize these type of permissions.  Another one, Fallen Realms, does. It’s not clear why Sega needed it for this game, or if such access will even be utilized to the company’s marketing advantage, which is likely why this type of data would be collected.  We will work to find answers on the matter and bring you anything more that we learn.