3 ms·

[dubious - discuss] There's a few things that make this pretty unlikely. Google doesn't triage or repair the phones themselves, they contract it out just like

[dubious - discuss] There's a few things that make this pretty unlikely. Google doesn't triage or repair the phones themselves, they contract it out just like everyone else. And the people they contract it out to almost certainly have procedures in place which are meant to ensure that neither the devices themselves nor the data on them get out. I'm not saying it's false, but I would definitely take it with a grain of salt. That said, before you send any devices in for repair, you should wipe them to the best of your ability. Also, you should set a secure password (PIN, pattern, etc) - even if you set your device to not lock, you can encrypt/require password on startup, which would prevent the repairperson from seeing the photos much less posting them.

jandrese 5y ago
> And the people they contract it out to almost certainly have procedures in place which are meant to ensure that neither the devices themselves nor the data on them get out. I think your impression of what phone repair places are like may not match reality. The industry is far more ad-hoc and margin chasing than the rows of immaculate benches staffed by well paid professionals in a brightly lit facility like they might show in a brochure.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  I haven't personally worked in one of the big contract places but have close friends who did. I think your impression of these places as being simply "phone repair places" may not match reality, to be quite honest.
throwaway19937 5y ago
> There's a few things that make this pretty unlikely. Google doesn't triage or repair the phones themselves, they contract it out just like everyone else. And the people they contract it out to almost certainly have procedures in place which are meant to ensure that neither the devices themselves nor the data on them get out. Snowden and Manning smuggled out top secret information; it seems a bit much to assume that the low bidder on a phone repair contract has leak-proof security.
slownews45 5y ago
False. T-Mobile for example had a major device theft issue with their mailed in device place for the upgrade program they used to run. No surprise, the process was to unlock phone, turn of find my iphone and send in the phone WITHOUT TRACKING to this random low bidder. This was early in program, you couldn't turn device in at store (I tried). So I filmed myself mailing the device, because without a tracking number on the pre-printed label and an unlocked phone - 100% for sure these were getting jacked along the way. If you use a brain dead process like this, you have to be bulletproof every step (mail pickup, sort, deliver, warehouse workers handing $1K+ devices etc). Of course, the phone was reported as never having been received. Tired of the runaround and with the video I had I simply said, fair enough, I will persue this legally and part of that is going to be asking how many complaints you've received like mine (phone reported not turned in). Bamm, 2 days later I had my money. Thankfully they then let you turn in at a store and I think started sticking at least tracking numbers on things so they'd have SOME sense of what was supposed to be coming in.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  Gonna reply here since 4 different people decided to say the same thing without actually reading my post. I never said it wasn't possible. But getting the lynching party out is a bit premature. Just because someone says something on the Internet does not make it true. Bet y'all still think Trump is still gonna magically become president and kill the elite pedophile cannibal cabal, huh? Never said the processes they have in place were perfect. But being smart enough to exploit a hole in the process, and dumb enough to then make illegal posts on social media with location and all - are kinda at odds with each other. Until you can show me any evidence that this case is real - which, of course, you can't for the next ~years because the only place that evidence should show up is in court - you can take your "False." and stick it somewhere.
mijoharas 5y ago
In addition a few months ago the exact thing happened to one of the subcontractors that apple uses for phone repairs[0] (as has been mentioned elsewhere in these comments). Unless you think the "procedures" that googles subcontractors have are better than those of these other subcontractors who did exactly this, it's clearly possible. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/7/22522560/apple-repair-multimillion-iphone-nude-photos-privacy-settlement-pegatron https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/7/22522560/apple-repair-mult...

jandrese 5y ago

> And the people they contract it out to almost certainly have procedures in place which are meant to ensure that neither the devices themselves nor the data on them get out. I think your impression of what phone repair places are like may not match reality. The industry is far more ad-hoc and margin chasing than the rows of immaculate benches staffed by well paid professionals in a brightly lit facility like they might show in a brochure.

jfrunyon 5y ago
I haven't personally worked in one of the big contract places but have close friends who did. I think your impression of these places as being simply "phone repair places" may not match reality, to be quite honest.

throwaway19937 5y ago

> There's a few things that make this pretty unlikely. Google doesn't triage or repair the phones themselves, they contract it out just like everyone else. And the people they contract it out to almost certainly have procedures in place which are meant to ensure that neither the devices themselves nor the data on them get out. Snowden and Manning smuggled out top secret information; it seems a bit much to assume that the low bidder on a phone repair contract has leak-proof security.

slownews45 5y ago

False. T-Mobile for example had a major device theft issue with their mailed in device place for the upgrade program they used to run. No surprise, the process was to unlock phone, turn of find my iphone and send in the phone WITHOUT TRACKING to this random low bidder. This was early in program, you couldn't turn device in at store (I tried). So I filmed myself mailing the device, because without a tracking number on the pre-printed label and an unlocked phone - 100% for sure these were getting jacked along the way. If you use a brain dead process like this, you have to be bulletproof every step (mail pickup, sort, deliver, warehouse workers handing $1K+ devices etc). Of course, the phone was reported as never having been received. Tired of the runaround and with the video I had I simply said, fair enough, I will persue this legally and part of that is going to be asking how many complaints you've received like mine (phone reported not turned in). Bamm, 2 days later I had my money. Thankfully they then let you turn in at a store and I think started sticking at least tracking numbers on things so they'd have SOME sense of what was supposed to be coming in.

jfrunyon 5y ago
Gonna reply here since 4 different people decided to say the same thing without actually reading my post. I never said it wasn't possible. But getting the lynching party out is a bit premature. Just because someone says something on the Internet does not make it true. Bet y'all still think Trump is still gonna magically become president and kill the elite pedophile cannibal cabal, huh? Never said the processes they have in place were perfect. But being smart enough to exploit a hole in the process, and dumb enough to then make illegal posts on social media with location and all - are kinda at odds with each other. Until you can show me any evidence that this case is real - which, of course, you can't for the next ~years because the only place that evidence should show up is in court - you can take your "False." and stick it somewhere.

mijoharas 5y ago

In addition a few months ago the exact thing happened to one of the subcontractors that apple uses for phone repairs[0] (as has been mentioned elsewhere in these comments). Unless you think the "procedures" that googles subcontractors have are better than those of these other subcontractors who did exactly this, it's clearly possible. [0] https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/7/22522560/apple-repair-multimillion-iphone-nude-photos-privacy-settlement-pegatron https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/7/22522560/apple-repair-mult...