[Accidental Post]

Good read but scary none the less...


Some Food for Thought - Bootloaders, Rooting, Manufacturers, and Carriers

[Wildo6882]

Isht...Big Brother is watching you...

[hootyhoo]

Sucks for the hobbyist, but if google can make android more secure (and it looks as if they can), I think that is a good thing.

As people carry more and more sensitive data on their devices, they really have no choice. How many phones would they sell with android if folks thought any hacker could steal their credit card number from their phone?

I haven't rooted mine. I don't know enough about it to feel sure that I won't brick my phone. Some people are and enjoy the challenge. I just want my phone to work.

And I want to use it without worrying about someone being able to muck around in my phone without my knowledge and steal my data.

While I'm sure that many people enjoy playing around witch the os, I think that most people just want a solid and secure device.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Wildo6882]

Sucks for the hobbyist, but if google can make android more secure (and it looks as if they can), I think that is a good thing.

As people carry more and more sensitive data on their devices, they really have no choice. How many phones would they sell with android if folks thought any hacker could steal their credit card number from their phone?

I haven't rooted mine. I don't know enough about it to feel sure that I won't brick my phone. Some people are and enjoy the challenge. I just want my phone to work.

And I want to use it without worrying about someone being able to muck around in my phone without my knowledge and steal my data.

While I'm sure that many people enjoy playing around witch the os, I think that most people just want a solid and secure device.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

I definitely agree with you on the phone being more protected. I only use root to have a reboot widget, cache cleaner set every day, throttle down the processor at certain times, to block ads, to freeze certain unnecessary apps/backup my settings in the others, and the once in a blue moon wireless tether. It's really not too much. And it's actually all stuff I could live without besides the backup, reboot, and cache cleaner. If there were apps out there that could do that without being rooted, I would probably have no issue with this in the future.

It's just still disturbing that they (being primarily Verizon) can track us like that.

[the one and only M]

I read that over the weekend. Android won't be android if in can't do what I want with my phone, and that's mainly removing bloat and running a vanilla rom. I just hope google starts pushing a nexus device on every carrier, or it'll be hello apple for me.

[Accidental Post]

What really sucks is the tethering abusers I think really screwed us on this one.

[Rickroller]

This sounds to me like a collaboration amongst the carriers to make more money..plain and simple. Sure..I think Google wants to "secure" it's platform a little more..but $$ is the main reason for this..which is ridiculous to begin with.

I still don't undertand how they can have a say with what I use my data for. Who gives a sh!t if I use my data I paid for to also run my laptop when I want to? Obviously the greedy fingers of the carriers. Personally..i've only tethered once..and that was basically to try it out. So it's not that I'm against it because I use it..but rather because i've paid for it..its mine to use..HOWEVER i please.

I don't know how the carriers are governed in the States..but here in Canada..the big three (Telus, Rogers, and Bell) have basic free roam to do whatever and charge whatever they want. There is no real governing body that limits what they can and can't charge for. I watched a show a few weeks back called Canada's Biggest Cellphone Bill. There were many users who had horror stories from roaming charges to contract cancellation fees due to deportation. The roaming charge was the highest..at something like $14,000. And the guy is stuck with it. Although the carrier (Bell) did offer him payment plans

[FigureThisOut]

What really sucks is the tethering abusers I think really screwed us on this one.

This is a big reason after all. The manufacturers and Google are basically the
carrier's b!tch. Carriers have a huge influence on the devices. Just ask RIM.
If Verizon and AT&T think they can influence people who tether for free to
instead sign up for a tethering plan, then they'll do it. The crackdown is due
more to LTE. A year and a half from now when LTE is basically the standard,
they just would rather people pay them an extra $20-$30 for a tethering plan.

Watch and see rumblings of this once LTE BB's and even iPhones are introduced.

[pixel8rberry]

If you think that having limits on the cellphone data is bad, wait till cable companies get approved to block/charge extra for the streaming services aka Netflix, Pandora and such. Honestly, sometimes, I just want to smack Comcast CEO upside his head and tell him to stop trying to f us up more then he already has.

[TheScionicMan]

I still don't undertand how they can have a say with what I use my data for. Who gives a sh!t if I use my data I paid for to also run my laptop when I want to?

If it's a capped data plan, it makes sense to not charge a tethering fee and let people use it how they choose. Buy 2 gigs, it should be yours to burn. But there's a lot of people that abuse their "Unlimited" plans by tethering. It was supposed to be unlimited for what you could use on the phone, not using it as a connector. If I'm going to do something that uses a lot more of a service and is outside the scope of the ToS, its only logical to expect to pay more.

I read that over the weekend. Android won't be android if I can't do what I want with my phone, and that's mainly removing bloat and running a vanilla rom. I just hope google starts pushing a nexus device on every carrier, or it'll be hello apple for me.

Now that's FUNNY right there...

[hootyhoo]

I read that over the weekend. Android won't be android if in can't do what I want with my phone, and that's mainly removing bloat and running a vanilla rom. I just hope google starts pushing a nexus device on every carrier, or it'll be hello apple for me.

Ironic much?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[anon(19759)]

I think this stinks, but the reasons for the carriers to want to control this does make sense. It's about money. Last time I checked, companies are in business to make more of it for their shareholders and they have to weigh the balance of being profitable and providing value to their shareholders vs. pissing off enough customers with their money-making policies that it starts to affect profits. There is no perfect way to find this balance. Just about every policy a company enacts to boost profits (or protect them) will have a negative customer reaction and positive shareholder reaction. Just the way it is.

I would guess the number of Android users that root and tether is not insignificant, but how many of them will leave Android for another platform if they can no longer root and tether? Obviously Google and the carriers have a guess, and the wheels are in motion to work towards that number that minimizes customer loss while maximizing company profit. I'm frankly surprised Google would even entertain this, given their big talk about openness, but I suppose there does have to be some level of control to keep us from destroying ourselves (in the smartphone kind of way).

[belfastdispatcher]

That would be a slap in the face to all the people that spent their precious hours making Android better and so successful. Would Android be where it is now without them?
Thank you for making android no1, now **** off.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[tedzone]

If it'll make the info on my phone less accessible to Scumbags trying to steal it---so be it.

ps.... no doubt it's also a cash grab opportunity on the part of the networks cause they're the biggest thieves of all.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Accidental Post]

But here is a the rub. The Android OS is built around the GPL which states that the source code HAS to be released for peer review, developers etc.....I am thinking someone or some people could sue for that infringement. Anyone remember Linksys trying to not release the code for their routers as it was based on LINUX. A GPL is a GPL and they could be forced ( by the masses or the courts) to release the source code. Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Android Open Source Project license

The preferred license for the Android Open Source Project is the Apache Software License, 2.0 ("Apache 2.0"), and the majority of the Android software is licensed with Apache 2.0. While the project will strive to adhere to the preferred license, there may be exceptions which will be handled on a case-by-case basis. For example, the Linux kernel patches are under the GPLv2 license with system exceptions, which can be found on kernel.org. But.....See article and look at the open handset alliance....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_(operating_system)

Kernel article:
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/COPYING

Apache License:
http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

[Rickroller]

If it's a capped data plan, it makes sense to not charge a tethering fee and let people use it how they choose. Buy 2 gigs, it should be yours to burn. But there's a lot of people that abuse their "Unlimited" plans by tethering. It was supposed to be unlimited for what you could use on the phone, not using it as a connector. If I'm going to do something that uses a lot more of a service and is outside the scope of the ToS, its only logical to expect to pay more.

+1 I used to have an unlimited data plan..but my carrier changed their policies when they upgraded their towers and whatnot..so that when I first got my Torch..because it was 3G+, they told me the old data plans were no longer applicable, and thus I had to buy a new one (even though I know of others who were able to carry their unlimited plans over).

Either way..I agree. For those of us who pay 1, 2, 5 or 6Gb plans..we should be allowed to do whatever we want with it. For those locked in with unlimited plans..perhaps they should be the ones to have to pay a tethering fee.