Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 99 posts

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#11

Post by karteum »

causi wrote: post #3

I hate when a law or legal decision is aimed 45 degrees off like this. Letting manufacturers bundle their fucked-up version of Android is a bad thing. What we need is mandatory unlockable bootloaders so the users can load whatever they want on their devices.

What we need is control on the bootloader, with the ability to unlock, load our own keys, and relock.

We also need to clean-up the mess with all those "partitions" (some of them with critical informations e.g. calibration, IMEI, etc) so that only one partition would have all those static information (reasonably protected against overwrite, e.g. colocated with bootloader and device-tree). We should be able to re-partition the storage (like we do on PC) without bricking the device...

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#12

Post by craftinator »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #5
causi wrote: post #3

I hate when a law or legal decision is aimed 45 degrees off like this. Letting manufacturers bundle their fucked-up version of Android is a bad thing. What we need is mandatory unlockable bootloaders so the users can load whatever they want on their devices.

There will still need to be the option for a locked boot loader though. If I’m Snowden, knowing my boot loader could be unlocked and a key logger side loaded isn’t reassuring.

No, locked bootloader's are the stuff of nightmares. Much rather be able to scratch all memory on the device and reinstall.

Perhaps what I mean is "locked bootloaders at POS". Selling them locked should be illegal, but locking them yourself with your own key should be trivial.

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#14

Post by izacus »

esperent wrote: post #7
ggktk wrote: post #2

I recently installed LineageOS on my phone, replacing the stock MIUI. I would probably return this phone if I had no other option than to use MIUI. I much prefer the "pure" Android experience. For many essential and security critical apps to work, like bank apps or the McDonald's app you need to hide the fact you're using a modified system, because of SafetyNet. This hiding/bypass works for now, because it tricks Goo…

I bought a Miui phone about a week ago. It's on miui 12.5 and it's the first time I've ever used this OS. I expected to hate it because of all the flack it gets. But honestly, it's fine. It's not that different from Android. I did have to uninstall a load of bloatware using ADB and I added a custom launcher (Niagara).

MIUI is Android though - and it passes strict Google CTS tests so it stays (reasonably) compatible with software.

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#15

Post by ocdtrekkie »

It's incredible how long the AFA has been known about and how blatantly illegal it is, yet not subject to any significant penalties.

Law moves so freaking slow, this is about a 2013 complaint. Dealing with tech industry crooks requires faster movement than this.

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#17

Post by jmnicolas »

NullPrefix wrote: post #4
ggktk wrote: post #2

I recently installed LineageOS on my phone, replacing the stock MIUI. I would probably return this phone if I had no other option than to use MIUI. I much prefer the "pure" Android experience. For many essential and security critical apps to work, like bank apps or the McDonald's app you need to hide the fact you're using a modified system, because of SafetyNet. This hiding/bypass works for now, because it tricks Goo…

>or the McDonald's app Excuse me? McDonald's app considers itself security critical now?

Probably because you can pay your meals with it.

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#18

Post by ocdtrekkie »

danschumann wrote: post #16

This seems like an issue similar to right to repair... let hackers(in the traditional sense) have their place.

It really isn't because the AFA doesn't impact hackers. It's about basically operating a cartel where a single company controls the products of a large number of other companies and illegally binds them for making their own business decisions.

Google held/holds the ability to allow or disallow all product releases Android manufacturers release, including products which do not use Google Play Services.

Tizen became critical to Samsung because Samsung couldn't release a smart fridge with Android in the background without Google's permission, even if they had no intent on it having a traditional app store... because it might constitute a fork of Android.

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#19

Post by fsflover »

causi wrote: post #3

I hate when a law or legal decision is aimed 45 degrees off like this. Letting manufacturers bundle their fucked-up version of Android is a bad thing. What we need is mandatory unlockable bootloaders so the users can load whatever they want on their devices.

> unlockable bootloaders so the users can load whatever they want

Here you go: https://puri.sm/products/librem-5.

Re: S.Korea fines Google $177M for blocking Android customisation

#20

Post by Youden »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #5
causi wrote: post #3

I hate when a law or legal decision is aimed 45 degrees off like this. Letting manufacturers bundle their fucked-up version of Android is a bad thing. What we need is mandatory unlockable bootloaders so the users can load whatever they want on their devices.

There will still need to be the option for a locked boot loader though. If I’m Snowden, knowing my boot loader could be unlocked and a key logger side loaded isn’t reassuring.

Ironically, Google's own Pixel devices are basically the only ones on the market that allow locking the bootloader with your own key [0]. They even follow the recommended bootflow [1], displaying a warning screen with the hash of the installed ROM when you boot the phone.

[0]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/avb/+/mas...

[1]: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/external/avb/+/mas...

Post reply on HN