Why shouldn't it? It's on a phone; it's part of basic usability. And the cure in Google's case is far, far worse. Give them access to your IMEI and phone numbers in and out. I know assume incompetence over maliciousness, but this stretches belief. Especially combined with the rest of Google's little tricks.
> I know assume incompetence over maliciousness, but this stretches belief.
It's worse than that. Android had a saner permission interface, with a separated permission just for detecting if the phone is ringing. Google "updated" it to the current format alledging the previous one was too confusing.
