26 Android Models Sold with Pre-Installed Spyware that can’t be Removed

Discussion in 'privacy problems' started by dogbite, Sep 6, 2015.

  1. dogbite

    dogbite Registered Member

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  2. driekus

    driekus Registered Member

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  3. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    You're calling Google Play spyware?
     
  4. driekus

    driekus Registered Member

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    Many on this forum would agree with that statement. In this context though it was a bit of humour ;)
     
  5. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    Most everything Google is arguably spyware :eek: They make money through spying on users. But of course, their defense is that it's not really spying, because everyone knows that they do it ;)
     
  6. Palancar

    Palancar Registered Member

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    Are you saying that you can't remove it even on a ROOTED device? I didn't see any mention of that in the article but I was wondering if any users here have rooted and deleted some of this?
     
  7. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    I'm sure that it can all be removed by rooting. Unless it's in firmware. But that would be pretty hardcore, no?
     
  8. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    The spyware will be able to remove by rooting or flashing a new ROM. Rooting is actually really easy.
     
  9. driekus

    driekus Registered Member

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    That would mean they would need to write custom code for each device?

    I agree more likely just in the ROM itself and by non-removable they must mean that it cannot be removed by factory reset.
     
  10. ssbtech

    ssbtech Registered Member

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    Let me understand this properly - are they suggesting that the preinstalled Facebook and Google Drive apps are being customized/modified by the vendors, or are the vendors installing apps that only appear to be Facebook/Google Drive but in reality aren't?

    Or are we talking about the real Facebook/Google Drive apps being installed, but their permissions are set such that they pose a risk to data the user isn't intentionally sharing to those services?
     
  11. mirimir

    mirimir Registered Member

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    I don't know. I suspect that many phones use similar baseband radios with similar firmware.
     
  12. roger_m

    roger_m Registered Member

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    The offending apps will be able to be easily removed it the phones are rooted. They won't be removed by doing a factory reset.

    The "firmware" is actually the ROM.
     
  13. BoerenkoolMetWorst

    BoerenkoolMetWorst Registered Member

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    From the report: (https://secure.gd/dl-en-mmwr201502)
     
  14. ArchiveX

    ArchiveX Registered Member

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  15. Palancar

    Palancar Registered Member

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    Yep, that was my point ---- rooting. I don't root my Android but its simple to do. I have lots of friends that do it. Most of the popular models have well tested ROM's out for them. The android forums would be a good place to start learning/reading if you were interested. Since I always have my laptop I don't do social media on my smartphone.
     
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