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Are there phones where Google can remotely remove content from their local storage? That’s unacceptable

by Alifatisk 3y ago

mocmoc 3y ago
did you live under a stone?
- xcdzvyn 3y ago
  no
- mdp2021 3y ago
  If you are knowledgeable, clarify the matter to us with a little history: when would this feature have started in Android (versions etc.), which are the most important events showing what they can do or not, etc.
- Alifatisk 3y ago
  Not currently, no
mdp2021 3y ago
I think that already with the first iPhone Apple spokesmen said "we built the feature in because we thought we would regret not doing it". It is not just «remov[ing]», it is also planting. (You should remember the case of remotely installing free music albums - which woke up a number of people about "they can plant files on my phone?!".)
Sayrus 3y ago
Isn't that all Android phones with the Google Services or Play Store installed? You can remotely wipe them, install or uninstall applications from a browser logged into your Google Account and Google has already deleted apps from users phone since at least over a decade ago [1]. [1] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2010/06/exercising-our-remote-application.html https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2010/06/exercising...
jeroenhd 3y ago
All major mobile operating systems (Android, iOS) and some desktop operating systems (macOS) have the ability to remotely kill a binary through communication with the mothership. Most other desktop computers run antivirus (Windows Defender, McAfee, etc.) which very much allow the same thing. This feature was built to kill malware and viruses. Not even all malware in case of mobile devices, only the particularly bad malware that a "this app is infected with a virus" popup isn't enough for to get rid of. It's not exactly a novel technique either. Most game cracks for Windows are part of one malware database or another, which is why every crack comes with instructions to disable your antivirus software for that particular binary. At some point only the actually infected cracks were being flagged, and in some cases the cracks employ malware-like mechanisms to redirect control flow, but many of these programs will be flagged by AV databases simply for being cracks. Most of the topics where people complain about these types of remote uninstalls are based on pirated games from sketchy sources. It's hard to say if there's actually a virus at play in those situations, but based on the symptoms described ("all APKs I install are marked as viruses") I would think there is some kind of malicious APK modification process going on in a few of these cases.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
no_time 3y ago
Mozilla can also disable any of your extensions. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-cause-issues-are-on-blocklist https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-cause-issues-ar... There needs to be a law against this.
- rysertio 3y ago
  You can disable the blocklist from about:config . extentions.blocklist.enabled

Are there phones where Google can remotely remove content from their local storage? That’s unacceptable

mocmoc 3y ago

did you live under a stone?

xcdzvyn 3y ago
no
mdp2021 3y ago
If you are knowledgeable, clarify the matter to us with a little history: when would this feature have started in Android (versions etc.), which are the most important events showing what they can do or not, etc.
Alifatisk 3y ago
Not currently, no

mdp2021 3y ago

I think that already with the first iPhone Apple spokesmen said "we built the feature in because we thought we would regret not doing it". It is not just «remov[ing]», it is also planting. (You should remember the case of remotely installing free music albums - which woke up a number of people about "they can plant files on my phone?!".)

Sayrus 3y ago

Isn't that all Android phones with the Google Services or Play Store installed? You can remotely wipe them, install or uninstall applications from a browser logged into your Google Account and Google has already deleted apps from users phone since at least over a decade ago [1]. [1] https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2010/06/exercising-our-remote-application.html https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2010/06/exercising...

jeroenhd 3y ago

All major mobile operating systems (Android, iOS) and some desktop operating systems (macOS) have the ability to remotely kill a binary through communication with the mothership. Most other desktop computers run antivirus (Windows Defender, McAfee, etc.) which very much allow the same thing. This feature was built to kill malware and viruses. Not even all malware in case of mobile devices, only the particularly bad malware that a "this app is infected with a virus" popup isn't enough for to get rid of. It's not exactly a novel technique either. Most game cracks for Windows are part of one malware database or another, which is why every crack comes with instructions to disable your antivirus software for that particular binary. At some point only the actually infected cracks were being flagged, and in some cases the cracks employ malware-like mechanisms to redirect control flow, but many of these programs will be flagged by AV databases simply for being cracks. Most of the topics where people complain about these types of remote uninstalls are based on pirated games from sketchy sources. It's hard to say if there's actually a virus at play in those situations, but based on the symptoms described ("all APKs I install are marked as viruses") I would think there is some kind of malicious APK modification process going on in a few of these cases.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

no_time 3y ago

Mozilla can also disable any of your extensions. https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-cause-issues-are-on-blocklist https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/add-ons-cause-issues-ar... There needs to be a law against this.

rysertio 3y ago
You can disable the blocklist from about:config . extentions.blocklist.enabled