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Could they face repercussions over this? That is unsettling that they can remotely manipulate your phone without your permission.

helthanatos 8y ago
They can also delete media from your phone. Had a graphic video of that carnival ride breaking and killing someone and it was deleted...
- vSanjo 8y ago
  Completely off-topic, so I apologise, but why did you have that video? That question is coming from a place of curiosity not judgement - I truly couldn't stomach having something like that on my phone, and would have no reason to share it with others or watch it again if I did.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
- sebazzz 8y ago
  Was it uploaded to some cloud service?
- 013a 8y ago
  Is this for real? Was it deleted specifically on Google Photos, with a local copy still available or possibly available if it hadn't already been cleared locally? Or was it a legitimate "reach into local storage and clear it"?
  - ehsankia 8y ago
    I'd be wary of believing some random anecdotal story with absolutely zero proof and very little detail.
    - laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
      anecdotal story with absolutely zero proof If you lack real control over your device, "absolutely zero proof" is the new normal, and everything that gets zeroed out of RAM is rendered anecdotal thusly.
  - helthanatos 8y ago
    It was only local.
sandebert 8y ago
I wouldn't be surprised if both Google and Apple could do whatever they want with our phones remotely. It's just that they usually don't, so we never see it.
- moetech 8y ago
  They can't if you're running Lineage OS.
  - spyridonas 8y ago
    I'm not that certain. From my understanding this works through Google play services that most people will install on other roms as well
  - ce4 8y ago
    And dont install GApps.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  On iOS, at least, software updates require the user to enter their passcode, to prevent a San Bernardino-type backdoor. Though, I believe there are some assets that can be updated without a full system update.
  - sandebert 8y ago
    I don't mean to be a tin foil hat, but I have to ask: How do you know? Do you work at Apple, with this exact thing? From my perspective there shouldn't be a problem for Apple to have the regular updates work as you describe. And also for them to have an alternative method they can use without any user intervention at all. (Which probably very seldom is used.)
ehsankia 8y ago
Did you even read the post? It was a bug... They do A/B testing and experiments all the time. What's up with hackernews and going full technopanic at the smallest most benign things. It's not like someone at Google hacked into your phone and turned battery saver off.
- ardy42 8y ago
  >> That is unsettling that they can remotely manipulate your phone without your permission. > Did you even read the post? It was a bug... They do A/B testing and experiments all the time. What's up with hackernews and going full technopanic at the smallest most benign things. It's not like someone at Google hacked into your phone and turned battery saver off. I'm sure he did read the post. For Google to perform A/B experiments on a random person's phone, they'd have to remotely manipulate that person's phone, which means Google has control of it at all times. They shouldn't even have the capability to perform an A/B test. We're not talking about some webapp running on their servers.
  - cheeze 8y ago
    Yeah. Duh. Of course they do. Ever heard of remote lock down features? Don't use a Google phone if you don't want to be the product. That simple. Why would anybody trust Google and the Android ecosystem with security in general? Sent from my galaxy s9
  - kkarakk 8y ago
    obvious iphone user - google play services has full control of your phone. find your phone on android works because of this. if you don't trust google you CAN use the phone without google play services(you have to jump through some hoops like with everything privacy related)
    - sometimesijust 8y ago
      You don't even need to uninstall it. The permission to modify system settings etc can be set to not allowed in the Google Play Services app info page. So it isn't even surprising that the service can do what it did.
photos_victim 8y ago
They push new software to your phone constantly. They could just permanently enable low-power mode for everybody tomorrow if they wanted to, or change all your icons to Pop-Tarts.
wvenable 8y ago
Most people buy Google phones specifically because they want Google to remotely manipulate their phones as quickly as possible with the latest Candy-named software. It's an in-demand feature.
- remir 8y ago
  There's a difference between fast-software updates and turning on/off certain features without the user's consent.
  - eh78ssxv2f 8y ago
    > turning on/off certain features without the user's consent. I think that in practice, that applies to only the privacy sensitive features. Would you be upset if suddenly they rolled out a feature that reduced battery consumption by 10%? This particular case was obviously a bug, but I suppose every software manufacturer is continuously doing A/B testing, and 99% of time the user would not even notice. I would be surprised if Google was not doing A/B testing, and did not have the whole framework for doing it.
    - remir 8y ago
      Would you be upset if suddenly they rolled out a feature that reduced battery consumption by 10%? If you're talking about battery saving mode, I would be upset if they activated the feature (turning it on) without my consent, yes. I don't have issues with Google pushing improvement to their code via OS updates.
    - Dylan16807 8y ago
      > Would you be upset if suddenly they rolled out a feature that reduced battery consumption by 10%? If they secretly installed it, of course I would be. It's not like this is the only way to deliver features...
    - pritambaral 8y ago
      > I would be surprised if Google was not doing A/B testing On live (not beta), unsuspecting users, without their consent?
mikejb 8y ago
The "without your permission" bit is where you're probably wrong. But I agree with your sentiment that it's unsettling.

helthanatos 8y ago

They can also delete media from your phone. Had a graphic video of that carnival ride breaking and killing someone and it was deleted...

vSanjo 8y ago
Completely off-topic, so I apologise, but why did you have that video? That question is coming from a place of curiosity not judgement - I truly couldn't stomach having something like that on my phone, and would have no reason to share it with others or watch it again if I did.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
sebazzz 8y ago
Was it uploaded to some cloud service?
013a 8y ago
Is this for real? Was it deleted specifically on Google Photos, with a local copy still available or possibly available if it hadn't already been cleared locally? Or was it a legitimate "reach into local storage and clear it"?
- ehsankia 8y ago
  I'd be wary of believing some random anecdotal story with absolutely zero proof and very little detail.
  - laserBro13Fcali 8y ago
    anecdotal story with absolutely zero proof If you lack real control over your device, "absolutely zero proof" is the new normal, and everything that gets zeroed out of RAM is rendered anecdotal thusly.
- helthanatos 8y ago
  It was only local.

sandebert 8y ago

I wouldn't be surprised if both Google and Apple could do whatever they want with our phones remotely. It's just that they usually don't, so we never see it.

moetech 8y ago
They can't if you're running Lineage OS.
- spyridonas 8y ago
  I'm not that certain. From my understanding this works through Google play services that most people will install on other roms as well
- ce4 8y ago
  And dont install GApps.
saagarjha 8y ago
On iOS, at least, software updates require the user to enter their passcode, to prevent a San Bernardino-type backdoor. Though, I believe there are some assets that can be updated without a full system update.
- sandebert 8y ago
  I don't mean to be a tin foil hat, but I have to ask: How do you know? Do you work at Apple, with this exact thing? From my perspective there shouldn't be a problem for Apple to have the regular updates work as you describe. And also for them to have an alternative method they can use without any user intervention at all. (Which probably very seldom is used.)

ehsankia 8y ago

Did you even read the post? It was a bug... They do A/B testing and experiments all the time. What's up with hackernews and going full technopanic at the smallest most benign things. It's not like someone at Google hacked into your phone and turned battery saver off.

ardy42 8y ago
>> That is unsettling that they can remotely manipulate your phone without your permission. > Did you even read the post? It was a bug... They do A/B testing and experiments all the time. What's up with hackernews and going full technopanic at the smallest most benign things. It's not like someone at Google hacked into your phone and turned battery saver off. I'm sure he did read the post. For Google to perform A/B experiments on a random person's phone, they'd have to remotely manipulate that person's phone, which means Google has control of it at all times. They shouldn't even have the capability to perform an A/B test. We're not talking about some webapp running on their servers.
- cheeze 8y ago
  Yeah. Duh. Of course they do. Ever heard of remote lock down features? Don't use a Google phone if you don't want to be the product. That simple. Why would anybody trust Google and the Android ecosystem with security in general? Sent from my galaxy s9
- kkarakk 8y ago
  obvious iphone user - google play services has full control of your phone. find your phone on android works because of this. if you don't trust google you CAN use the phone without google play services(you have to jump through some hoops like with everything privacy related)
  - sometimesijust 8y ago
    You don't even need to uninstall it. The permission to modify system settings etc can be set to not allowed in the Google Play Services app info page. So it isn't even surprising that the service can do what it did.

photos_victim 8y ago

They push new software to your phone constantly. They could just permanently enable low-power mode for everybody tomorrow if they wanted to, or change all your icons to Pop-Tarts.

wvenable 8y ago

Most people buy Google phones specifically because they want Google to remotely manipulate their phones as quickly as possible with the latest Candy-named software. It's an in-demand feature.

remir 8y ago
There's a difference between fast-software updates and turning on/off certain features without the user's consent.
- eh78ssxv2f 8y ago
  > turning on/off certain features without the user's consent. I think that in practice, that applies to only the privacy sensitive features. Would you be upset if suddenly they rolled out a feature that reduced battery consumption by 10%? This particular case was obviously a bug, but I suppose every software manufacturer is continuously doing A/B testing, and 99% of time the user would not even notice. I would be surprised if Google was not doing A/B testing, and did not have the whole framework for doing it.
  - remir 8y ago
    Would you be upset if suddenly they rolled out a feature that reduced battery consumption by 10%? If you're talking about battery saving mode, I would be upset if they activated the feature (turning it on) without my consent, yes. I don't have issues with Google pushing improvement to their code via OS updates.
  - Dylan16807 8y ago
    > Would you be upset if suddenly they rolled out a feature that reduced battery consumption by 10%? If they secretly installed it, of course I would be. It's not like this is the only way to deliver features...
  - pritambaral 8y ago
    > I would be surprised if Google was not doing A/B testing On live (not beta), unsuspecting users, without their consent?

mikejb 8y ago

The "without your permission" bit is where you're probably wrong. But I agree with your sentiment that it's unsettling.