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Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

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Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#41

Post by akdev1l »

abtinf wrote: post #36
userbinator wrote: post #24

making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.

[flagged]

> Seriously, you never had to provide tech support to a parent, relative, or friend whose computer got totally fucked because they had root?

Literally 0 here, have you really?

Like I literally do not know anyone who is even using Linux to begin with but also people do have “root” in their Windows and MacOS systems. I do not see anyone destroying their computers at random.

Also to steal someone’s information you don’t need root access or any administrative access - if you already tricked the user into running your code then you can steal their passwords or whatever, all of that is user-level data.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#42

Post by StanislavPetrov »

abtinf wrote: post #36
userbinator wrote: post #24

making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.

[flagged]

>You people don’t know or have forgotten what a god damn wasteland computers were 20 years ago.

Computers were utopia 20 years ago as compared to today - especially when it comes to privacy, security and user-control.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#43

Post by bongodongobob »

userbinator wrote: post #24

making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.

[flagged]

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#44

Post by bongodongobob »

boramalper wrote: post #10

I suspect a strong link between mass surveillance (by corporations for advertising or by states for intelligence purposes) and the very recent targeting of the senior Iranian nuclear scientist and military officers at their homes in Iran. Wherever you are from or whatever side of the conflict you are on, I think we can all agree that it’s never been easier to infer so much about a person from “semi-public” sources su…

Politicians are just the sales and marketing department for multinational corporations and defense contractors. They will never care.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#45

Post by ryukoposting »

anonymars wrote: post #29
akersten wrote: post #7

In my experience, Samsung is a label that means "stay far, far away." From the Galaxy Note fiasco to my microwave to my dishwasher to ... Probably at least three other products before I learned my lesson. I even refuse to buy QD-OLED monitors out of indignation that Samsung makes the panels. Maybe I'm alone but maybe one day we'll boycott lousy companies out of business.

In favor of what? The Android ecosystem is pretty lousy. Which manufacturers allow you to easily migrate to a new phone (Samsung has Smart Switch) and have, let's say, 4+ years of security updates? Genuine question. In my case I also wanted an SD card slot so it was slim slim pickings indeed. (And still there are some misfits who insist that there is no such thing as progress!)

LG back in the day. I miss my V20. What a weird, but wonderful phone.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#46

Post by noisy_boy »

OutOfHere wrote: post #37

Samsung currently has an unremovable spyware app on North American phones that pastes (records) everything copied to the clipboard by any app. It is the Samsung Keyboard app. It cannot be removed. It doesn't matter if you're using any other keyboard app. Samsung Keyboard pastes (records) everything that gets copied to the clipboard by any app. The Samsung Keyboard app cannot even be disabled from Android. As an aside…

Sometimes I will see a small random "copied" floating notification (not in the notification tray) and I always wondered where it came from. Maybe they have put in some code to suppress it but due to some bug, it leaks out. No proof but I can only hypothize.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#47

Post by Atlas667 »

THEY WILL TARGET YOU too if you ever find yourself against western and/or Israeli interests.

Capitalist technologies are the surveillance state incarnate. They must study people in order to manufacture consent.

Remember democracy is majority rule, when have you ever had true control over your political destiny? You KNOW the answer is never.

Democracy =/= trust.

Democracy = control.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#48

Post by potamic »

bongodongobob wrote: post #43
userbinator wrote: post #24

making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.

[flagged]

You can default to a hardened, secure setup but provide an option to override to those who want to. I don't think anyone is against secure defaults, but many people have a problem with designs that say you must not even have an option to override.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#49

Post by jrflowers »

userbinator wrote: post #24

making it nearly impossible for regular users to uninstall it without root access, which voids warranties and poses security risks Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.

This is a good point. While there is nothing factually incorrect in the statement “rooting your phone can void your warranty and pose a security risk”, if you imagine factual statements are the same thing as value judgments it becomes very problematic.

Similarly it is pretty messed up when people say stuff like “fire can burn you if you aren’t careful” because so many people rely on fire for food and warmth.

Re: Samsung embeds IronSource spyware app on phones across WANA

#50

Post by sedatk »

hysan wrote: post #14
grishka wrote: post #8

The "unremovable" part is inaccurate. While you can't completely remove it because it resides on the system partition, you most probably can still disable it with an adb command: adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name This command is very powerful as it works for any app, even those that have "disable" greyed out in the settings. I disabled the Galaxy Store on my S9 this way for example.

> "unremovable" > you can't completely remove it Maybe my English isn’t very good but that sounds like the definition of unremovable.

There’s an enormous difference between “it can’t be stopped” and “its storage area can’t be reclaimed” though.
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