I had the same thought and questioned if I should post it. However, in this case the company providing the device and bloatware is also a provider of phone/broadband service on which the device and that software will be used. Plus, the company involved exploits what it collects from devices/services for targeted advertising purposes. Plus it helps other parties get around privacy boundaries using aggressive tactics such as UIDH. With that in mind, and FTA: Emphasis mine. There may be ways for a carrier to implement such a program in a manner that does more harm to user privacy. I'm not sure how much worse the Verizon context could be, but if there is a way to make it worse then Verizon will probably do it!
Reinforces why buying an unlocked phone direct from the manufacturer and installing a custom ROM like CopperheadOS is the way to go.
Ditto I was planning on discussing ROOTING the phones, which is the same thing. I have full Admin Priv's on my linux systems and network, so why not on my Smartphones? Once rooted its unbelievable what you can get rid of that as of now you have no option to.
Rooting on Android is not necessary. CopperheadOS does not support root. I believe this is because the way Android is structured root access to apps leaves you more vulnerable. The thing that I like about CopperheadOS is that it is truly barebones AOSP with Pax SELinux. Nothing Google is included and only a few stock apps are present. Runs very well on the Nexus 6P. https://copperhead.co/android/ If you read their page their is no marketing hype at all and that inspires a lot of confidence. Updates are also every week or so. There was a buffer overflow vulnerability in Android release August 15th that was patched by Copperhead OS on August 16th.
That makes sense but I still do like root when needed. I have full root on this linux laptop as an example, but I am not running in root and don't 99.9 % of the time. I am going to read through your links. I have been reading about factory unlocked S7's and KNOX at the chip level for encryption, which work here in the USA.
I have seen several comments which are similar to the one above, but none explained why/how rooting leaves you vulnerable. Do you know and/or have a good link on the subject? It sounds strange to me because I'm inclined to think "gain root, make safe modifications, exit root, run with normal permissions thereafter".