23 ms·

The key insight here is that this should not even be possible. Yes, corporate-owned phones need to be administered remotely. Yes, Google needs to be able to p

by rauhl 8y ago

The key insight here is that this should not even be possible. Yes, corporate-owned phones need to be administered remotely. Yes, Google needs to be able to perform internal testing (this is in fact just an example of corporate ownership). Sure, maybe some individuals want to opt in to something like this. But the key is that this should be opt-in. It should simply be impossible for Google to do anything pernicious to a newly-purchased Android phone: it should not be able to write settings, nor should it be able to read any data.

jlg23 8y ago
Pushing configurations to devices has been around for at least 2 decades. Everybody does it and unless we are bashing big companies, we usually agree on "automatic software updates are a good thing(tm)". I don't see any difference between software or configuration updates, after all you can do the latter through the former anyways.
- dx87 8y ago
  I don't think people are upset that Google could change settings or software, they're upset at the lack of technical controls that allowed Google to accidentally push out settings changes to user's devices, and the lack of security measures in the OS that allows that accidental settings change to be done without any sort of notification to the user. It'd be like your bank accidentally moving your money to another account; you know that they need the ability to transfer funds as part of their job, but they should have better internal processes that prevents them from accidentally doing it.
daveFNbuck 8y ago
They're able to push a new OS. How can they do that without being able to change your settings?
- rauhl 8y ago
  They shouldn’t be able to push a new operating system onto my phone. They can let me know that a new version is avilable for me to download, when I see fit. It’s my phone, after all!
  - daveFNbuck 8y ago
    How could they make it impossible to change your settings using the permission you've granted to install the new OS?

by rauhl 8y ago

jlg23 8y ago

Pushing configurations to devices has been around for at least 2 decades. Everybody does it and unless we are bashing big companies, we usually agree on "automatic software updates are a good thing(tm)". I don't see any difference between software or configuration updates, after all you can do the latter through the former anyways.

dx87 8y ago
I don't think people are upset that Google could change settings or software, they're upset at the lack of technical controls that allowed Google to accidentally push out settings changes to user's devices, and the lack of security measures in the OS that allows that accidental settings change to be done without any sort of notification to the user. It'd be like your bank accidentally moving your money to another account; you know that they need the ability to transfer funds as part of their job, but they should have better internal processes that prevents them from accidentally doing it.

daveFNbuck 8y ago

They're able to push a new OS. How can they do that without being able to change your settings?

rauhl 8y ago
They shouldn’t be able to push a new operating system onto my phone. They can let me know that a new version is avilable for me to download, when I see fit. It’s my phone, after all!
- daveFNbuck 8y ago
  How could they make it impossible to change your settings using the permission you've granted to install the new OS?