Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is something that has always sketched me out about the Android rooting and moding scene. "Download this suspect binary from rapid share and run it as root" seemed to be a cornerstone of it. The warez/cracks scene was essentially the same thing, and yet if you knew where you were getting things from, it was quite safe. The antipiracy groups have since been spreading plenty of FUD (and some possibly attaching malw…
But it's even worse than that. People run random operating systems on devices they carry 24/7. Devices with microphones, multiple cameras, access to personal and work email, text messages, passwords, your location. And there are so many places for things to wrong. Any one of the following could be malicious, incompetent, or compromised: * The ROM's maintainer. There are many groups here, for example many ROMs are bas…
How much would it cost to buy off, for example, the entire radio hardware/firmware team at a manufacturer in your own country (meaning pretty much either China or South Korea), and on a governmental scale how reasonable or unreasonable is that number?