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Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

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211–220 of 346 posts

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running remote updates in general was a serious mistake. Other manufacturers are no better and give you all kinds of crap for their income streams at the expense of your convenience whilst claiming the opposite. The last time I saw an update that just fixed security bugs and improved performance was... never.

I took this seriously and thought back to the most recent actually-useful-bugfixes-and-security-improvements release that I can remember. OSX Snow Leopard perhaps?

Wasn’t that also Apple’s last paid OS?

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#212

SpyApps everywhere. Hopefully one day we not only have open software, open hardware but also reproducibly guaranteed secure systems. Now I don't have any idea how this could be verified (and no, Microsoft's "Trusted Computing" is not what I have in mind), but I hope we'll see to this eventually.

It will be excluded from any popular OS and will end up a niche thing that no one will use. The issue is the hegemony of big tech companies over the regulations to shape it however they like, and in return they provide the surveillance to legislators.

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#213

What a trash title, literally just covering bloatware...

Actually AppCloud is a software that can install apps remotely. Not bloatware. It is spyware. And the location of the developers (example, being in China) would make it a security concern. And Israel is a security concern for countries that don't recognize Israel.

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#214

SpyApps everywhere. Hopefully one day we not only have open software, open hardware but also reproducibly guaranteed secure systems. Now I don't have any idea how this could be verified (and no, Microsoft's "Trusted Computing" is not what I have in mind), but I hope we'll see to this eventually.

If you don’t trust a centralized authority you need decentralized governance…

"Decentralized governance" is just feudalism. What you need is a re-envigoration of democracy. Democracy works, but we have to engage with it positively, both as citizens and as politicians.

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#215
post #204

What’s striking is how often these ‘small’ surveillance tech stories trace back to the same state-aligned ecosystem. When Israel does it, it’s treated as a complex security issue. When another ‘bad’ country does the same thing, we immediately call it espionage. And almost on cue, the discussion drifts anywhere except the uncomfortable fact that it’s the same ecosystem from the same country showing up again.

it’s a tough infosec situation because the tel aviv-haifa corridor in israel has an enormous amount of computer science R&D going on that gives US companies a competitive advantage. for example, annapurna labs in haifa develops the technology behind AWS’s nitro cards, which run the hypervisor, block storage, and networking in every EC2 server.

Fair enough. I guess it's fine to be spied on to make sure US companies have that competitive advantage you mention. As its all in a good cause, I'll take the Samsung phone!

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheap devices get subsidized by shitty adware. The cheaper the device, the more likely that it's full of terrible adware. Consumers often have a choice, at least between "filled to the brim with crap" and "a modicum of crap", by choosing between buying their phone from a store or from a carrier. Carriers have better deals but shovel their phones full of the worst apps you can imagine. Still, people will buy the crap-…

The premium devices still have the bloatware.

Yeah, even the iPhone bundles/bakes in google junk

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The “War on Terror” has addled peoples minds so harshly that the notion that there is actually a legal way to wage war seems preposterous - however, there is a “legal means by which to wage war” which does in fact protect you, citizen, and you should learn about it - because when your representatives (and by proxy: you) violate those laws, you become personally liable for the repercussions that other victims will pro…

You have to lose the war in order to be so prosecuted. So, the important thing about war crimes is not to lose once you've determined that you've committed them.

I'll start to believe this sort of fantasy when the people who win wars begin investigating and prosecuting themselves for the crimes that they committed or suborned.

Re: Israeli-founded app preloaded on Samsung phones is attracting controversy

#220
post #12

So a Unity owned bloatware company being used by Samsung is now somehow controversial because it was founded in Israel? Am i reading this right?

Uhhhh, not sure about you, but I wouldn't want anything Israeli within 10m of my phone.

If you want to _really_ bar anything of Israeli origin, you should:

- Not use Intel processors, as many are developed in Haifa

- Not use a firewall. It was invented in the IDF.

- Not use Waze. It's Israeli.

- Not use thumb drives. Invented in Israel.

- Not eat cherry tomatoes. Israeli development.

The list goes on and on, but I must add - if you ever suffer a serious head or stomach injury, tell the medics to not use the Israeli bandage.

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