Google tells EFF: Android 4.3's privacy tool was a MISTAKE, we've yanked it

The software, dubbed App Ops, was bundled into Android 4.3 as a hidden application. For each installed program, it presents a series of switches so that users can activate some permissions, such as granting access to the cellular or Wi-Fi network, but block others, such as sharing your physical whereabouts.

"Google told us that the feature had only ever been released by accident - that it was experimental, and that it could break some of the apps policed by it," said Peter Eckersley, technology projects director at the EFF.