Awareness vs Paranoia
Please don't attribute MK's article to paranoid delusions. The risk does exist and, like most known vulnerabilities in the computer world, will be exploited. The simple fact is that the ad servers do not need and should not need the level of permissions being given to most apps. Excessive access to ad servers allowed malware to originate from places like the London Times and other trustworthy sites. Never mind the lax privacy controls and tracking that ad agents use to improve monetization of individual ad views.
The Apps themselves often ask for excessive permissions just so the ad servers can "exploit" the access it gives them.
Telling us about these facts is not crying wolf, its awareness.
