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Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

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Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#231

Post by bookofjoe »

BenjiWiebe wrote: post #154
bookofjoe wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wrote tomaytotomato 3 hours ago: >If you want a stretch goal try and de-Google yourself, I have tried but failed twice now. My point is that even with unlimited resources it's impossible to de-Google yourself.

De-Googling (in this context at least) means not running Google software on your phone. No Google Play Services always running in the background, plus not using Google apps.

Ah. I misinterpreted "de-Googling." It is refreshing, though, to know that the cranky folks of HN still downvote honest mistakes.

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#232

Post by u_fucking_dork »

basisword wrote: post #152
u_fucking_dork wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> even iPhones came (and still comes) with a ton of apps you cannot remove regardless of how little you use them You see, the user you replied to spoke in the present tense, and is addressing the “(and still comes with)” portion of the original comment.

And they added this ability a DECADE ago.

Some people want so badly for the iPhone to be bad and only bought by sheep as a fashion accessory to signal to their wealth to their peers.

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#233

Post by Sophira »

ryukoposting wrote: post #157
chasil wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should all be aware that Lenovo (the owner of Motorola Mobility) has some dark moments in its past. https://www.theregister.com/2015/08/12/lenovo_firmware_nasty...

Asus does this on many of their consumer motherboards now, too.

The Gigabyte motherboard on my system does this as well. I turned it off immediately, of course.

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#234

Post by hero4hire »

GeekyBear wrote: post #179
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And operators preloading questionable stuff is a much older practice than post-iPhone smartphones. If you had a feature phone in the 2000's, the operator would have customised it one way or another. The iPhone was revolutionary in how much Apple forced the network operators to relinquish control.

I can remember Verizon being sued for forcing device makers to disable the ability to transfer files from feature phones to computers over Bluetooth, because they charged a per file fee to transfer files with their own proprietary software.

The funniest thing Verizon did was start their own bank. They wanted to create a new payment option on everyone's phone using NFC. Then bill and process payments via your existing telephone bill. Front runner app before Apple/Samsung/Google Pay services and potentially Visa/MC market disruption for insane profits.

Verizon called it ISIS

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#235

Post by subscribed »

ryukoposting wrote: post #156
codedokode wrote: post #76

Think how bad the market got. Today we have preinstalled garbage apps like LinkedIn, garbage apps mandated to be preinstalled by the government, ads, cloud accounts, notifications spam, telemetry. This is not only Chinese smartphones, for example Samsung also plays this game. I assume there are Chinese backdoors, American backdoors and national government backdoors on almost every phone. And there seems to be no way…

> Think how bad the market got. How bad it's always been? Go find a Windows Recovery image for a Sony Vaio from the 2000s. Prepackaged shitware has always been a thing. I read this article and thought "wow someone finally matched an old Vaio." That said, I want to hear a statement from Motorola on this. The GrapheneOS phones they announced a few months ago were going to be my "out" from this kind of nonsense. I want…

I'm on the Pixel GoS for quite a while and I'm confident this Motorola will be a secure device without bloatware in the same way current GoS is.

Their user base wouldn't ever trust them again if anything shady happened - there's enough trolls and French prowling on the perimeter already.

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#236

Post by metiscus »

It looks like devicenative "accidentally" deleted their documentation page that was linked from that article. Fortunately someone archived it beforehand. Oops.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260526042018/https://docs.devi...

Also, as of some hours ago Motorola has stopped the activity but didn't say anything about how it started in the first place. https://9to5google.com/2026/05/27/motorola-amazon-app-uninte...

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#237

Post by thenthenthen »

hakfoo wrote: post #220
thenthenthen wrote: post #148

Isnt Motorola basically a ‘Shanzhai’ (copy cat) brand now? Some dude putting the logo on some OEM parts? I am thinking of that Commodore phone from a while back and others. While completely speculative, it is interesting to see legit brands go Shanzhai or get Shanzhaied and Shanzhai brands go legit (xiaomi, huawei)

Especially outside the flagship market, "shanzhai" is enough. I bought a $250 Motorola (G Stylus 2024 model) I wasn't looking for unique and breakthrough experiences. I just wanted good-enough screen/camera/battery life/performance, which can be presumably be produced from a wide assortment of more-or-less off-the-shelf parts. I am annoyed at the software degradation though. I don't appreciate the repeated unskippabl…

Ultimate Shanzhai Experience sounds like a great title for a game

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#238

Post by VortexLain »

cyberclimb wrote: post #218
futune wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking the same. But it worries me that these news about Motorola in particular doing shady shit. I was looking forward to the upcoming GrapheneOS/Motorola partnership :(

How about the FairPhone running /e/os (which is de-googled)? You can buy it preinstalled directly from Murena. Although this is not at your target price point. But /e/os can be used on hundreds of android phones (as opposed to GrapheneOS). So you can probably install it on your current phone https://doc.e.foundation/devices

Having no GMS implementation at all or using microG introduces compatibility issues for a lot of proprietary software. GrapheneOS is the only ROM which supports running GMS in an isolated manner, without giving it direct access to privileged system APIs such as geolocation (which is sent to Google just because they can).

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#239

Post by dredmorbius »

codedokode wrote: post #204
dredmorbius wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And before it was (smart)phones, it was PCs. The New York Times was running items on spyware and nagware on PCs in the early aughts.

PC is easier to fix.

True, however:

1. The game's been played for a long time. Which was my principle point.

2. PCs were then, Smartphones are now. The story's getting worse, not better. As you note, in the case of a PC the problem is easier fix, e.g., now is worse.

3. Unless there is direct and violent pushback, expect to see this shit forever.

4. The best solution during aughts for PC crapware was to wipe and install Linux. Now it's to wipe and install a free mobile OS such as Graphene. In both cases, this is beyond the ken or capabilities of 95%+ of the population.

Re: Motorola phones have started hijacking the Amazon app to insert affiliate codes

#240

Post by FireBeyond »

ornornor wrote: post #178
dannyw wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can now. You couldn't do this in the early versions of iOS.

You can. I’ve removed Apple Music and Apple Maps (seriously, who uses that?) but apple makes extra sure most things are more annoying to use without maps. Calendar app with an address? Default to opening in Apple Maps which is missing so error message (twice). Find my? Also open in apple maps with missing app error message. Even with Google Maps set as default systemwide.

Yup. Even though it requires an explicit user action to make Chrome your default browser, don't worry, next time you click on a link, Apple will pop up a dialog saying that your default has changed, and your options are "Use Safari", or "Keep using Chrome", and guess what the default option is?
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