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It isn't like you're buying a used laptop from someone on Craigslist, the people buying these phones were intentionally mislead to believe that they were buying

It isn't like you're buying a used laptop from someone on Craigslist, the people buying these phones were intentionally mislead to believe that they were buying a brand new (in a shrinkwrapped box) phone from an authorized retailer. If bestbuy sold windows laptops, advertised that it came with a valid Windows licence and they turned out to be lying, should Microsoft brick their laptops?

sjwright 10y ago
Buying a counterfeit product on Ebay is exactly like buying a used laptop from someone on Craigslist, save for the buyer's perception of the seller. I don't see how the appearance of the counterfeit product, or the ignorance of the buyer, or the mainstream-ness of the seller is at all relevant here. To complete your laptop analogy, this "new" laptop from Best Buy turned out to be goods ripped off the assembly line at the Dell factory before the unit had its Windows OEM license assigned or paid for. The software is unlicensed and therefore not genuine. It is not for Microsoft to offer sympathy and a blind eye, they are well within their rights to identify counterfeit installations of Windows and disable them. The remedy is for Best Buy to offer the customer a full refund.
sjwright 10y ago
Let me put it another way. Forget hardware for a moment. The purchaser of these counterfeit Blackphones thought they were buying a software license for Silent OS. In reality it is pirated software. And not just garden variety downloaded-with-bittorrent-for-free piracy but rather software piracy as a profitable business model. Silent Circle doesn't owe these consumers anything and are well within their rights to have all of their software completely self-destruct. They don't owe these consumers a robust mechanism to install an AOSP distro. They don't owe these consumers a bootable device. They don't owe these consumers a discount on a genuine device. The only correct resolution is for the scam victims to receive a refund from the seller.
- trome 10y ago
  Whoa whoa whoa, Silent OS is based on Android, incorporating many GPLv2 and other FLOSS software. They may have done some minor hardening & UI changes, but beyond that the value of Silent OS is the apps they have built for calling & texting securely. I could see stopping service on those apps, but bricking the baseband is a step too far, as you lose 911 access and Silent Circle almost certainly had no part in the baseband firmware development and is not a rightsholder to it.
  - sjwright 10y ago
    Let's suppose one of the proprietary software components is a special secure bootloader. If Silent Circle disabled that one component, as they would be rightfully allowed to do, the phone is a brick. I should also point out the claim that the baseband was intentionally bricked is unsubstantiated. We don't know if that's actually happening. Or if it's happening, we don't know if it's intentional. The percentage of proprietary software on the phone — be it five percent or fifty — is orthogonal to the point.

sjwright 10y ago

Buying a counterfeit product on Ebay is exactly like buying a used laptop from someone on Craigslist, save for the buyer's perception of the seller. I don't see how the appearance of the counterfeit product, or the ignorance of the buyer, or the mainstream-ness of the seller is at all relevant here. To complete your laptop analogy, this "new" laptop from Best Buy turned out to be goods ripped off the assembly line at the Dell factory before the unit had its Windows OEM license assigned or paid for. The software is unlicensed and therefore not genuine. It is not for Microsoft to offer sympathy and a blind eye, they are well within their rights to identify counterfeit installations of Windows and disable them. The remedy is for Best Buy to offer the customer a full refund.

sjwright 10y ago

Let me put it another way. Forget hardware for a moment. The purchaser of these counterfeit Blackphones thought they were buying a software license for Silent OS. In reality it is pirated software. And not just garden variety downloaded-with-bittorrent-for-free piracy but rather software piracy as a profitable business model. Silent Circle doesn't owe these consumers anything and are well within their rights to have all of their software completely self-destruct. They don't owe these consumers a robust mechanism to install an AOSP distro. They don't owe these consumers a bootable device. They don't owe these consumers a discount on a genuine device. The only correct resolution is for the scam victims to receive a refund from the seller.

trome 10y ago
Whoa whoa whoa, Silent OS is based on Android, incorporating many GPLv2 and other FLOSS software. They may have done some minor hardening & UI changes, but beyond that the value of Silent OS is the apps they have built for calling & texting securely. I could see stopping service on those apps, but bricking the baseband is a step too far, as you lose 911 access and Silent Circle almost certainly had no part in the baseband firmware development and is not a rightsholder to it.
- sjwright 10y ago
  Let's suppose one of the proprietary software components is a special secure bootloader. If Silent Circle disabled that one component, as they would be rightfully allowed to do, the phone is a brick. I should also point out the claim that the baseband was intentionally bricked is unsubstantiated. We don't know if that's actually happening. Or if it's happening, we don't know if it's intentional. The percentage of proprietary software on the phone — be it five percent or fifty — is orthogonal to the point.