The “dangerous” permissions highlighted by that report include location tracking, access to cameras, contacts and the phone itself. Google’s enhanced protection doesn’t clamp down as widely as that, but focuses on financial exploits that require user credentials and one-time passcodes.

For three years, Google will have to let third-party Android app stores access the Google Play Store's catalog of apps "so that they may offer the Play Store apps to users," said the injunction issued by US District Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California.

In a landmark ruling, Judge James Donato has declared Google's tight grip on the Play Store an illegal monopoly, forcing them to usher in an era of unprecedented openness and competition. This verdict,