I installed NetGuard about a month ago and blocked all internet to apps, unless they’re on a whitelist. No notifications from this particular system app (that can’t be disabled) until recently when it started making internet connection requests to google servers. Does anyone know when this became a thing?
Edit 2: I bought my Pixel 6 phone outright, directly from Google’s Australian store. I have no creditors.
Were the courts not enough control for creditors? Since when are they allowed to lock you out of your purchased property without a court order?
I don’t even live in the US, so what the actual fuck?
Edit 1: You can check it’s installed (stock Pixel 6 android 14) Settings > Apps > All Apps > three dot menu, Show system > search “DeviceLockController”.
I highly recommend getting NetGuard, you can enable pro features via their website if you have the APK for as low as 0.10€, but donate more, because it’s amazing. You can also purchase via Google Play store.
In 2020 Google claimed it was supposed to be limited to a single region in partnership with a single carrier. And was never meant to be put up on Play Store.
A spokesperson from Google reached out to clarify some details about the Device Lock Controller app. To start with, Google says they launched this app in collaboration with a Kenyan carrier called Safaricom.
Google has confirmed that the Device Lock Controller app should not be listed on the Google Play Store for users in the U.S., and they will work to take down the listing.
Source: https://www.xda-developers.com/google-device-lock-controller-banks-payments/
Of course, it was a lie since it’s still on Play Store an of today and in use.
It must be globally, I’m in Australia. What utter bullshit, since I would have never known if it weren’t for my NetGuard firewall app.
Being Australian this is likely one to report to the ACCC, as Aussies at least have basic consumer protection, though that get murky with overseas tech entities.
Unfortunately the ACCC gives fewer fucks than you may expect. An airline once cancelled a flight on me and kept the cancellation fee, despite producing no evidence that any government had forced them to cancel the flight (this was during COVID).
ACCC did not care one bit
So while we do have some consumer protection (better than most) I would be surprised if they cared.
It’s 5 minutes out of your life to try, as an aussie, please do, for charity if nothing else, who knows, you might benefit…
I am a serial complaint lodger, just that I’m much busier than I used to be. I may do it once I figure out what’s going on with it on my phone.
Fair cop.
Thanks for you understanding friendo 🇦🇺
If it tickles your fancy, I once lodged a complaint with the national measurement institute to get a bar to stop selling American pints.
And they now sell it by the mL, beautiful
though that get murky with overseas tech entities.
I mostly agree, but you gotta admit the EU has been sticking it to the tech giants lately.
Definitely report this to the accc
I’m in Australia, and when I search for Device Lock Controller in Play Store, it says “This app is not available in your region”
This happens on 2 separate devices from different manufacturers. Both devices were purchased in Australia and have Australian ROMs
Also in Australia and it shows that to me as well
But going into my app list and showing system does show it
Check your installed apps (I left an edit in th post where to check). Just because it’s not listen in the Playstore for Australia, doesn’t mean it’s not installed.
Yeah, I checked installed apps (checked system apps), and I don’t have it installed on either of my devices
What model do you have, out of curiosity?
I’m using CalyxOS and it’s pre-installed as a system app, so this seems like something that’s being built in at the AOSP level of development.
DivestOS here, it’s not in my ROM.
Are you looking at system apps? It’s installed as a system app on my phone using GrapheneOS
com.android.devicelockcontrollerLooks like it’s an AOSP app
I see it on Graphene too, took away its network perms at least.
Yep, I checked a few places, in the end ClassyShark seemed to be the best place to see everything.
I don’t doubt it’s part of AOSP, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be left in the ROM.
iodéOS here and I can’t find it on my phone either (yes I looked at the system apps)
Can’t find it in OxygenOS
Did you check your system apps? It’s an AOSP app, so I would be surprised if this were the case. It could be under either
com.googleorcom.android.Yeah I did it’s not there
I still would be very surprised if this were the case. Unfortunately it seems that OxygenOS does not have public repositories to actually check the source code (!), but there are apps that will actually show you all of your installed packages and I bet one of those would show that it’s installed.
I’ve got it on OOS14, I’ve got an EU OP11
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Of course, it was a lie since it’s still on Play Store an of today and in use.
FWIW, I just searched it up and it’s listed as unavailable in my region (USA) 🤷♂️ so at the very least, they scoped it down a little bit
So they region locked it from US, but it can still be pre-installed as a system app from AOSP. And it’s available in EU, while was meant to be in Kenya only.
Just because it’s not in the Playstore, doesn’t mean it’s not installed.
It’s not listed in the Australian Playstore either, yet here we are with it making internet requests.
It’s definitely installed.
It’s not just you, it’s phoning home for me too. Pixel 7, also Australia, bought outright from officeworks. I don’t log network reqs so I don’t know exacts, but it’s using 25kb every 3 days or so, so it’s doing something.
I checked and don’t see it. So either my phone is too old, or is exempt since I bought from Google Fi.
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From reading the comments, I think it’s on all newer Android phones (perhaps Android 13+?). My phone is probably just too old.
I see it on my pixel 5a on Android 14 as well. Guess that solidifies my decision to move to Apple once this phone dies
Checked my pixel 6 and it’s on mine. Might not be in the store for everyone, but it’s installed on my owned device.
I’m surprised it would be on the play store since presumably if you were a carrier or creditor of some kind you want this installed in a pretty clandestine way and wouldn’t want to draw attention to it by having an app store listing.
Being on the play store means it can be updated and managed like a normal app and not stuck on whatever version shipped with the OS
I’d assume they want to be able to update it and that’s why it needs a store listing.
This type of tech is already being put into vehicles as well. I used to get laughed at 20 years ago when I predicted this. Nobody is laughing anymore. If anything, they just accept it.
Sigh. Way too much freeze in fight, flight or freeze…
https://neuroclastic.com/the-6fs-of-trauma-responses/
Don’t forget the 3 other Fs! Fawn(Friend), Flood, and Fatigue/Flop
Well, that was depressing (irony intended). Thanks for the thinking…
your self driving car will just drive itself back to the lot when your payment is late
shhhhh
That’s cool. I was envisioning something even worse. Maybe in cahoots with the IRS they wait till you were also late on your taxes and did a double whammy
People laughed at Stallman, too. But I’m not comparing you to him. He’s apparently a real POS.
Nah, he’s difficult to work with for sure, and rather extremist, but unfortunately he is a lot of right on the money. I wouldn’t call that a pos
most of this “he’s a pos” comes from the misconceptions about him. he has a certain fixation to the vocabulary, and he often corrects others for it. then those people take the “attempt to correct” as “support” for the debate itself.
I think this is an extremely generous take. For anyone not in the loop, he gets called POS for famously weighing in on discussions of pedophelia by saying children 13+ aren’t children so it’s not pedophelia.
I think this goes beyond being bad at knowing when to correct semantics
Nah, I truly believe he is that awkward and tone-deaf.
I do too, but I think being that tone deaf after being called out says a lot, and I think it’s pretty good reason to not make blanket endorsements for his statements/beliefs
he wasn’t tone dead in that case you mentioned. he has since changed his thoughts about it.
Many years ago I posted that I could not see anything wrong about sex between an adult and a child, if the child accepted it.
Through personal conversations in recent years, I’ve learned to understand how sex with a child can harm per psychologically. This changed my mind about the matter: I think adults should not do that. I am grateful for the conversations that enabled me to understand why
Sure. The only “blanket” statements I’m willing to give are limited to his work on Free Software. His statements on pretty much everything else should probably just be ignored.
I think that even that is more bad phrasing on his end than him being a pedophile. Beyond weird opinions, there is no evidence at all that he is a pedo
But there is evidence that he defends it, and that he refused to back down after being called out. He is not a good person to look up to, and willfully makes harmful public statements, and willfully stabds by them. In other words, kinda a POS
Not that it excuses his behavior but isn’t he on the autism spectrum? People on the spectrum sometimes have no filter and are very literal. Like saying a 13 year old is more adolescent than child.
Yet he still qualifies that statement:
Children: Humans up to age 12 or 13 are children. After that, they become adolescents or teenagers
Dropping ddevault’s recent post about RMS here
Requests the app made today.
This is my phone I own outright, by the way. I don’t have any creditors.
Update for those curious:
adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.devicelockcontrollerIf you’re using Shelter, then in addition to that command, replace
--user 0with--user 10You don’t need root to do this. You can also uninstall other bloatware using this same method.
Hero, I just have to get around to doing it 😅 (I will, but grumble, grumble this is why most people don’t bother battling for privacy)
I tried this on a Pixel 7 and am getting:
panther:/ $ pm uninstall --user 0 com.google.android.devicelockcontrollerFailure [DELETE_FAILED_INTERNAL_ERROR]I also tried disable and got:
Cannot disable a protected package: com.google.android.devicelockcontrollerAh. I guess you have to have root, then.
New to this depth of phone administration, where are you entering this command? Is there a developer CLI I should be looking for or is this done with a third party app or something?
Look up “adb” or “Android platform tools” on your favorite search engine. It’s something you do on your PC with your phone plugged in.
Right on, thank you!
You could also give Shizuku a try! Connects to android’s adb bridge over WiFi, right from your phone! From there you can use something like termux to shell straight into your phone!
I find it interesting that yours is
com.google.android.devicelockcontroller.I checked mine on GrapheneOS and it looks like it’s the AOSP version of the package:
com.android.devicelockcontrollerWhat app are you using to see this traffic?
Thank you!
Mvp comment there. I checked mine and I am in the US, on a phone I originally bought on credit. I do not have that app installed. Go figure. 🤷♂️
Definitely worth checking out your app list to make sure. I wonder if it accidentally came downstream from AOSP into the alt ROMs, and that’s why it’s not in my stock, proprietary, US market, flagship Google pixel device.
I am at such a loss, because I can see it in NetGuard, and open it’s app details from there, but it doesn’t work even appear in system apps in Shelter.
Just following up that it
is indeed in my apps listdeleted by creator
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Can you tell me what is this app? Edit, I found it, it’s NetGuard
At least it’s open-source: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/modules/DeviceLock/+/refs/heads/main/DeviceLockController/
And that’d be why custom roms have it. It’s part of the base Android system.
I was able to start some of its private activities with ActivityLauncher as root. Most of them just crash immediately, but the help page is available. And yikes, they got them covered against a possible bypass, no developer tools or sideloading.
Still disappointed this is shipped in LineageOS, but I suspect not for much longer with that publicity.
So, that looks like this is less insane than it sounded… This is for if you buy your phone on a payment plan? Not for creditors more generally to have a option to repossess/dispossess your phone?
This is what small claims court is for. To me there is no excuse for this.
Yeah, this is likely something that’s configured on an OS level to talk to some server when being sold.
However, note that SIM cards can have a flag that might enable this app (given how much power sim cards have over phones)
Note: no source, just assumptions
Edit: second note: this app isn’t present on my EU OnePlus Nord.
I’m worried about the “if you stop using their SIM” part. It’s one thing if you switch providers before paying it off, but that’s already covered with the skipped payments part. This implies that even after you finish paying it off, you can get locked out. Either way, I’m curious if the app even has any way of knowing whether the creditor really is using it “as intended,” or just trusting that a creditor wouldn’t want to lock the phone of an active, paying customer. I don’t have time to dig through the code myself though, so I’ll just hope this blows up enough for somebody else to figure it out.
if you switch providers before paying it of
Usually a financed devicd is financed through the carrier, and therefore a carrier branded device, and therefore locked to the carrier (yes they have the unlock option but compatibility tends to be far more limited than on the manufacturer unlocked version of the model)
If you look at the bottom it says once the device is paid off they can no longer access/change settings
Assuming there are no additional backdoors…
Coz we all trust in that…
That is both Google’s official version and what it looks like poking at it.
I haven’t dug in the code, so I don’t know if this is theoretically possible for a shady carrier to enable after the fact. But it very much looks like a dormant feature nobody uses.
I guess I could see that making sense in poorer countries where carriers might have issues of people signing up for phone plans and never paying. A carrier locked flip phone was pretty useless, but nowadays cutting your phone/data off is more of an inconvenience than a dealbreaker, you’ve still got WiFi and a nice phone.
On my lineage for micro G install it’s not present (or at least I didn’t spot it) maybe it’s a regional thing? I’m not in the us
I’m using a fresh install of GrapheneOS, and this is installed too. Not sure what that suggests, except that it’s possibly some core system level app.
Oh jesus, that’s crazy that it’s on GrapheneOS too.
Edit: I’m on a no-longer-supported GrapheneOS install on a Pixel 3a. I’ve checked and it’s not there for me. I also don’t live in the US (like OP). I wonder when it would’ve been added?
There’s little to no info out there, but I did see some suggestions on a forum, that it may also be installed when setting up a Work profile. I use Shelter to create said isolated Work profile. I wonder if that’s a possibile explanation.
This may be the case, as I also have a work profile set up via Shelter.
Weird that it’s installed in GrapheneOS also though.
In any case, even if setting up a work profile, it should just not be installed.
A potential backdoor as a ransomware exploit for anyone who has a work profile on their phone, I would guess. Unless there are other apps bundled with android that also lock you out of your phone.
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Seems unlikely if you outright own it, this is for bought on a plan type stuff, no ?
Edit: On further reading, apparently not. WTAF?
According to people from GrapheneOS these are two different things:
To be clear, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.devicelock is not what’s included in GrapheneOS. There seems to be some confusion about that. This is the app that does what’s being described.
What you see in GrapheneOS is https://android.googlesource.com/platform/packages/modules/DeviceLock/+/b1a971a6e29f5b426b13d96d7692e9dd5a7e81e2/DeviceLockController/
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/11639-device-lock-controller/9
Using Lineage and I dont have it. Sucks for people using Google crap
Out of curiosity, you’re specifically checking in the system apps?
Thats interesting, I am using lineage as well (oneplus 6t) and do have the app
com.android.devicelockcontroller. This could be some junk added when I enable the gapps magisk module which I generaly keep dissabled though.Yeah dont use gapps.
I’ve installed graphene on my phone a while ago (bought from a carrier in germany) and this app does not exist.
edit: nevermind, it’s there
That’s deeply disturbing, what else could be hiding next to it? I sort of hope it’s somehow being installed by your phone company, as bad as that is, the alternative is worse!
I mean, I bought my Pixel 7a unlocked and paid in full, from Google. And my assumption has always been that when GrapheneOS is flashed, any previous stock bloat is wiped.
Righteous assumption. That it is not, requires investigation. That’s some serious BS.
I also have it on the latest version of GrapheneOS
Remember when Google said don’t be evil. Ha
I think it was “don’t. Be evil.”
“Don’t be.” -Evil
It was actually closer to: you don’t have to be evil to make money
But they’ve definitely lost their way
Well yeah, you don’t need to be evil to make money, but you can make more money by being evil.
So, don’t be evil until you have a commanding market presence, and then be evil to make even more money.
Seems to be the MO of any large org.
‘Dont be evil’ was a warning to the users…cause google be watching you.
It was a command to the slaves using their services: “Don’t be evil.(We will know and judge)”
Their definition of evil was insubordination, their way of telling people to listen to them, while also trying to legitimize their message.
I know this is a privacy community, but I’m not sure I’m onboard with the outrage on this particular one. If you rent/lease or go on a payment plan for the device you’re using, then it isn’t yours, it belongs to the entity you borrowed it from.
If I don’t make car payments, the bank can repossess my ride. If I dont pay my mortgage or rent, I can be evicted by my landlord or bank.
If I don’t make my phone payment, the company should have recourse to prevent me from using their device.
This could open up the ability for bad actors to disable my device, and I agree that’s a horrible prospect. But the idea of a legitimate creditor using this feature to reclaim their property is not something I find shocking.
All your points are sound. The issue that I have with this is that remote disable functionality is not necessary to achieve any of these aims. Before they were connected to the internet, people were still able to rent/lease autos and the world managed to survive just fine. There were other ways for lenders to get remunerated for breaking lease terms - they could issue an additional charge, get a court order for repossession, etc. Remote disable was never needed or warranted.
So let’s start by considering the due process here. Before, there was some sort of process involved in the repossession act. With remote disable however, the lender can act as judge, jury and executioner so to speak - that party can unilaterally disable the device with no oversight. And if the lender is in the wrong, there is likely no recourse. Another potential issue here is that the lender can change the terms at any time - it can arbitrarily decide that it doesn’t like what you’re doing with the device, decide you’re in breach, and hit that remote kill switch. A lot of these things could technically happen before too, but the barriers have been dramatically lowered now.
On top of this, there are great privacy concerns as well. What kinds of additional information does the lender have? What right do they have to things like our location, our habits, when we use it, and all of the other personal details that they can infer from programs like this?
There are probably lots of other issues here, but another part of the problem is that we can’t even start to imagine what kinds of nefarious behaviors they can execute with this new information and power. We are well into the age where our devices are becoming our enemies instead of our advocates. I shudder to think what the world would look like 20 years from now if this kind of behavior isn’t stopped.
Perfectly stated! The moralizing story kind of serves as cover, as a complete blank check to excuse practically any behavior of the lender, without any limiting principle.
Right - they say that they’re just going to use it to defend their “property rights”. In practice, they’re going to use it for a whole lot more than just that…
Exactly. These types of changes grant corporations extrajudicial power.
I don’t disagree with anything you say. I think it’s worth mentioning that the cost of enforcement directly informs the cost of a lease/rental situation. The cheaper they can enforce the contract, the less they can theoretically charge. If they had to get a court order to lock your phone or repo your car, they’d make it more expensive or be much more selective about who they lease/rent to. This maybe enables more people to have phones or get cars?
I swear I’m not rooting for team “aggressive manipulative business behavior widens opportunities for the less well off”. Gross. Kind of how I hear about globalization of manufacturing stuff - “they get paid pennies!” “yeah, but that’s more than before the factory came? look what they can buy now” I know that’s a overly broad generalization but you see those arguments.
Of course! I hope you didn’t read my comment as hostile. I read yours as sort of a devil’s advocate type of argument and was just trying to point out the logical flaws in it. I’m glad that you didn’t hesitate to voice a contrary opinion. The points that you raise are interesting… and it’s always good to consider both sides of the argument, even because it just helps us hone our own arguments. You could certainly argue that this is just another enforcement mechanism. It’s just that it comes with a lot of unintended consequences, which most people will overlook, and they’ll inevitably be used in ways that we didn’t anticipate, long after the fact that these kinds of mechanisms become commonplace.
Regarding the reduced cost of lending: sure, in theory they could lower the prices. In practicality, will it? Any time we see cost-reducing developments, it usually ends up resulting in higher profits for the vendors moreso than better competition and lower prices for consumers. Look at how car manufacturers are just letting electric vehicles sit in their lots because they refuse to accept what buyers are willing to pay. The corporate types really, really hate to lower prices on anything for any reason. So I would be surprised to see something like that happen, even though it’s still theoretically possible…
Oh nono no, the world is much worse than that:
-
If you make all your car payments on time except one, the bank can still repossess your car.
-
If you pay your mortgage or rent on time every time except once, the bank can initiate the process of eviction.
Remember: the power triangle points down
I paid off a car without ever being late, and they reported my account as unpaid and in collections at the end. They had no reason to do so and to this day I still don’t understand why they did it. I contested it and the best I was able to accomplish was getting the entire loan removed from my credit report. So 2 entire years of on-time payments and satisfactory completion of a loan resulted in no positive credit boost for me, and a big PITA, just because the company made a mistake. Companies are not responsible enough to wield the type of power that this app grants.
Yes? That’s why loans with collateral charge a lower interest rate than unsecured loans.
My point being that if said bank screws up whilst dealing with your loan, and you make a fuss to hold them accountable, the worse thing that happens to them is that they issue an apology.
-
Not an unreasonable thought, but my question is what is the process to disable? In your examples, there are legal steps/requirements to repossess those assets.
In this case I can’t imagine the process is longer than “press the brick button and extort money”
Is it extortion if it’s contractually obliged?
¯_(ツ)_/¯ eye of the beholder I suppose
That’s not how it works, at least in Spain.
I agree completely, but it’s an odd way to go about repossession.
And there’s the rub. Sure, it’s a financed phone. It doesn’t follow that we have to suspend judgment on the means they resort to, to enforce their terms.
I find it funny how differently Lemmy reacts to something like this vs reddit. The Lemmy community is certainly very different than reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/jpdup2/google_app_lets_banks_lock_your_phone_if_you_dont/
What about for people like me?
I bought my device outright. No loans, no payment plans and no reason for that functionality to exist on my phone. Yet there it is, just waiting to be taken advantage of whether there is a valid reason or not.
This is the kind of apathy that leads to phrases like, “If only we had known” but we do … and do nothing about it.
I can and will at least do my part for myself and encourage others to do the same.
When I saw this on a custom ROM, it was basically the same thing, but said that my financial institution or whoever had admin access to my phone, including seeing texts and everything else, until my phone was paid off. Still not sure why that was there in a custom ROM, but I ended up not using it.
For every single one of those scenarios, a set of legal processes need to be exhausted. This app gives the lender the ability to do whatever they want, whenever they want, without following a set of legal processes.
That’s dystopian mentality at it’s greatest.
Version 14 is installed on my Pixel 7 in the USA. I bought this phone outright, no credit, directly from the Google store.
Not on my phone though. Pixel 4a, bought outright from Google but in Canada, no credit.
Did you hit the three dots on the top right and select “show system”? It only shows after that.
I didn’t, but this is what shows after I did. Still not there.
I get this from the Google Play store:
Looking for Device Lock Controller?
This app isn’t available on Google Play in your region.
So, cool?
I bought mine from Google Fi w/ cash and have never used it on a major carrier. I’m guessing it’s a carrier thing, and not a stock Android thing.
No, it may not appear in the appstore (doesn’t for me), but does appear in my apps (when you show system apps)
Mine doesn’t appear in either for me, and I did show system apps. It must be a recent Android thing because my phone is almost 5 years old.
Good to hear! And thanks for providing this data point. I may get around to doing a survey, and trying to rope in some people who know their way around android development to see what’s going on here.
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This app isn’t available on Google Play in your region.
Looks like I’m good.
That entire idea is terrifying.
anyone remember the time when google removed(!) their internal “don’t be evil” rule? guess this is part of the outcome of that “be evil” that came along with removal of the opposite. Abuse of this mechanism is IMHO veery predictable ;-)
There are plenty of google-free cellphones, one could easily stick to better products of better companies. help yourself, google’s not gonna do that for you within the next 5billion* years as they IMHO already stated they “want” to be evil now, always remember that ;-)
*) thats round about when our sun expands too much for earth, so i currently dislike doing any predictions beyond that point ;-) i do not predict google would last that long, only that they’ll keep beeing evil until their end.
anyone remember the time when google removed(!) their internal “don’t be evil” rule?
I remember when media falsely reported clickbait articles that they did and people bring that up to this day. They moved it from the introduction to the closing statement. Which you can argue makes it less prominent or whatever, but it was never removed.
Of course it makes no difference, it wasn’t followed either way, and definitely isn’t followed now. But no, it was never removed. You can see it yourself right here at the end: https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/
The only reason this ever got any attention was to push an agenda.
effectively redundant statement
And yet it needs to be said because even 6 years after this didn’t happen people are still convinced that it did. It’s brought up way too often and I’m beyond tired of it at this point. Hate on Google for things they actually do, not because they moved 3 words to the bottom of a webpage.
my point was that the only reason anything ever receives attention in any way is due to an agenda
it was never removed
Context is key. It went from
Google Code of Conduct is one of the ways we put “Don’t be evil” into practice
to
And remember… don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!
So from a “we won’t be evil” to telling others to not be evil.
So yes, the context in which the statement was applied, means its very basis was removed.
hm you have a point that it might not have been removed completely, but the problem with that point that i personally have is that this reached me too late to just believe it was really never removed. For some reasons i would not believe blindly in “evidences” that are in control of the one that is in question and could manipulate it later for such claims and also was experienced to not be trustworthy for what they say…
saying that, there are ways to check if something was there at a time or not. the one source i know that could help here only seems to store records from 29th jun 2023 18:44:33 onwards which is too late for this.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/https://abc.xyz/investor/google-code-of-conduct/
you are right, it does not make a difference in if they can be trusted, but it makes a difference in why not and what to expect if you do so despite the red flags or -as a gov- just let things go on. A person who by accident was speeding should maybe be treated differenrly than a person who intentionally(!) does so while risking others lifes. and what would be more proof of intention than a written statement or removed canary? thus such a statement does make a difference in terms of they just cannot handle their stuff, don’t care at all or maybe even have evil intentions.
examples:
some kids making a fire in the forest cause they don’t know the risks
vs.
some young adults making a fire in the woods cause they just don’t care despite knowing the risks
vs.
a company making fire in the woods because its cheaper to do stuff there and they lack the resouces to do it safe and someone else will pay the firefighters anyway.
vs.
a company stating to want to do so cause they like it despite they could afford doing it secure but just no one could or would sue them anyway.
while i don’t want to say google is like no.4 here, to me these examples all make huge differences, no matter if the woods actually cought fire or not.
Devs still need to eat so we will need a better alternative to adsense. As long as we depend on these corporate services their stranglehold will only continue strengthen like this.
No one really depends on these corporate services. People are just too lazy and conformist to give up on the convenience that they bring.
I agree. Also addicted. There are a few silver linings but I’m increasingly of the opinion that most technology is more trouble than it’s worth.
Google-free phones? What are they? I know only Pinephone and Librem 5.
ok, i have to admit, that i was thinking of google-“services” free phones like the new ones from huawei. but sure android is made by google (but not “owned” by them). however i can try to “rescue” my argument by saying something like “just use a nokia 3310! they’re still working and the batterie should still last a week if not more” ;-)
however projects like lineage os might be a good choice to have threeth (as in more than “both”), more security, less dependency from google, and also more influence on the actual software included in the build, if it’s not even possible to just compile it yourself and have freedom of changing every line of code as you wish.
Huawei doesn’t even provide possibility to unlock bootloader, so it’s big NO. Currently I’m using Lineage OS on my primary phone and Linux on secondary phone. But the main problem is big amount of proprietary staff like modems, that can even work bypassing SOC and OS. I found only one phone with truly open-source hardware. It’s Liberty phone from Purism. It costs 2000$ and has perfomance comparable to 50$ Android phone.
my idea currently is to finish some projects that have priority and afterwards then look for lineage os on raspberry pi, combined with gsm modem and maybe a gps module, all powered by a slim powerbank. might make up a huge bulky phone but i almost want to start building it now. On the other hand if i wait until my other projects are finished, the whole thing might be ready made available for self assembly…
I thought about it too, but I want to make a tablet based on RPI 5. I have a 3D printer, so I hope to be able to make an adequately sized case.
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You act like it is Google’s fault that someone found questionable software on the phone they got from Rent-a-center or Alibaba.
They say it was made at the behest of a service provider in Kenya. Given that I can’t find the app and it’s not on my phone I’m inclined to believe them. It certainly sounds like something a service provider would request too.
EDIT: Someone else pointed out you have to toggle show system apps to see it and I see it after doing that.
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https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.devicelock
There you go. Just so you know, you could’ve Googled this instead of making a pedantic ass of yourself.
So then send the URL to the play store page from the app posted in ops photo. Go ahead, waiting.
lol, what? i did, in another comment, shortly before you posted this. here it is again: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.devicelock
you will own nothing and be happy
The fun aspect to this is that some banks have forced customers to use an Android for all their banking ops. So:
① You’re late paying a bill
② Creditor locks your phone
③ You cannot access your bank to make the payment because your phone is lockedBrilliant.
Yeah it’s because they ship the same OS image for everyone, be it US on a carrier plan or otherwise. Google services has complete control over your device (more than just locking it down), and that’s what you should be upset about. For you that app is just harmless bloat, what’s actually spooky is google play services as a system app. Do yourself a favor and install grapheneOS.
That’s just disgusting, but still so normal in the market religion. Google act as judge and executioner above all local laws. Never ever buy a phone that can’t be rooted and reconfigured. …oh, and never again deal with anything Google… …oh, or any other big US tech for that matter. …fuckit, never deal with ANY Capitalist cheater/scumbag unless you have to.
Unfortunately GrapheneOS still only supports Google Pixels, otherwise I would use something else in a heartbeat
Use Lineage OS
I did before I used Graphene, and my experience was a lot worse to be honest. Has it improved over the last two years?
You are much better off using a Pixel with GrapheneOS as far as privacy and security are concerned. Believe it or not, Google Pixels are the best smartphones to use de-googled. Truly outstanding.
Look up why Graphene team only supports these phones, it’s on their FAQ page.
What was wrong with it?
Lots of apps straight up didn’t work, that was the main thing. The other thing was I had to use a VPN app to block app network access, something that is a built in feature of Graphene. Further, Graphene has much more built in security features including actually using secure boot.
Did you get your apps from F-droid? I run Lineage completely stock with F-droid. It might be good to make a distinction between regular Lineage OS and Google Lineage OS.
I’m not to the point where I can use 100% F-Droid apps, unfortunately.
Got a non-capitalist phone for me?
Sincerely as a hater…
Huawei is a employee owned and communist state backed company - not very capitalist, at least by comparison.
They’re being hammered with export restrictions and sanctions and federal bans and executive orders to keep that from being a viable alternative in the US, but if you’re outside that might be an option.
Lol as if. It is owned by the trade union who workers are required to be a part of, but have 0 say in.
The “union officials” are not chosen by the workers, but by management who are chosen by their management and so on until the Chinese head trade union officials which are party men who, just like in the old soviet Union, are essentially the chinese bourgeoisie. It is essentially a fascist oligarchy which is the exact same as under capitalism, just a different structure and cover story.
The workers get 0 say and there is no evidence that they share in the profit either, and huawei does not deny that structure either.
https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/22/why-its-so-hard-to-know-who-owns-huawei/?guccounter=1
It’s not a worker cooperative, there are problems with it like any employee owned company, but don’t be so cynical.
I’m not sure how we went from Google to Capitalism but Ok
You don’t see how a corporate entity like Google is related to capitalism? What exactly do you think capitalism means?
Have you tried Universal Android Debloat to disable it?
https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater
Stuff like this is why I root or just flash my phones.
Oh this looks great, thanks!
