4 ms·

Speaking of which, if you don't like that kind of thing, never use a Xiaomi phone. It requires registering for a Xiaomi account to "unlock" the bootloader and i

Speaking of which, if you don't like that kind of thing, never use a Xiaomi phone. It requires registering for a Xiaomi account to "unlock" the bootloader and install alternative operating systems (such as one without most of the spyware - why does the calculator app or the pdf viewer need a privacy policy?) This account registration is baked into the phone while the bootloader is unlocked, and you have to factory-reset the phone and lock it back up to be able to dissociate the account from the phone.

mschuster91 3y ago
That's a side effect of anti-theft measures. Samsung is the same, you can't unlock them any more without signing in into both Samsung and Google accounts which allows the two companies to detect if the device was registered as stolen. And for what it's worth, Samsung is the worst of the bunch anyway as rooting it permanently bricks the TEE via an e-fuse.
- kroltan 3y ago
  I guess having an account enables that deterrance, but I don't see how it is related to unlocking the bootloader if there was not an account bound beforehand. If signing into an account can be preserved despite the "unlocked" bootloader, there has to be some sort of hypervisor/"secure chip" type deal denying access to the part of the device the account info is stored, no? Otherwise one could erase the account info and pass the device as untainted anyways. So, if that information is secured against alternative operating systems, then there is no harm in allowing them by default or upon local user authorization. In other words, if it was strictly for theft deterrence then surely you would need an account to be able to factory reset the device at all, even with the bootloader locked?
  - mschuster91 3y ago
    > If signing into an account can be preserved despite the "unlocked" bootloader, there has to be some sort of hypervisor/"secure chip" type deal denying access to the part of the device the account info is stored, no? Otherwise one could erase the account info and pass the device as untainted anyways. All Android devices have some sort of TEE these days, otherwise they wouldn't get Netflix and a bunch of other apps people will demand to work.
    - kroltan 3y ago
      Yeah, I'm not denying the existence or need for a TEE, I just mean that either the TEE is secured against custom OSs and therefore signing in beforehand is unnecessary, or the sign-in information could be erased by a custom OS. So requiring a login to unlock the bootloader doesn't really disincentivise any theft in either case, as I understand it.

mschuster91 3y ago

That's a side effect of anti-theft measures. Samsung is the same, you can't unlock them any more without signing in into both Samsung and Google accounts which allows the two companies to detect if the device was registered as stolen. And for what it's worth, Samsung is the worst of the bunch anyway as rooting it permanently bricks the TEE via an e-fuse.

kroltan 3y ago
I guess having an account enables that deterrance, but I don't see how it is related to unlocking the bootloader if there was not an account bound beforehand. If signing into an account can be preserved despite the "unlocked" bootloader, there has to be some sort of hypervisor/"secure chip" type deal denying access to the part of the device the account info is stored, no? Otherwise one could erase the account info and pass the device as untainted anyways. So, if that information is secured against alternative operating systems, then there is no harm in allowing them by default or upon local user authorization. In other words, if it was strictly for theft deterrence then surely you would need an account to be able to factory reset the device at all, even with the bootloader locked?
- mschuster91 3y ago
  > If signing into an account can be preserved despite the "unlocked" bootloader, there has to be some sort of hypervisor/"secure chip" type deal denying access to the part of the device the account info is stored, no? Otherwise one could erase the account info and pass the device as untainted anyways. All Android devices have some sort of TEE these days, otherwise they wouldn't get Netflix and a bunch of other apps people will demand to work.
  - kroltan 3y ago
    Yeah, I'm not denying the existence or need for a TEE, I just mean that either the TEE is secured against custom OSs and therefore signing in beforehand is unnecessary, or the sign-in information could be erased by a custom OS. So requiring a login to unlock the bootloader doesn't really disincentivise any theft in either case, as I understand it.