ISIS Has a Smartphone App

> Apple and Google could easily kick apps used to organize violence out of their official app stores. But would they be willing to build further barriers to usage directly into their mobile operating systems?

This is a silly question for the Android side (and possibly the iOS side as well). That would be a monumental effort that would seem easily thwarted by simply installing your own version of the OS.

Re: ISIS Has a Smartphone App

#5

Post by wstrange » Sat, Jan 16, 2016, 8:53 PM UTC

Which I am sure the intelligence agencies are having a field day with.

Nothing like rolling your own encryption.

What are the chances it was created by one of the intelligence agencies?

Re: ISIS Has a Smartphone App

#6

Post by Mizza » Sat, Jan 16, 2016, 8:54 PM UTC

Would love a sample of this..

Re: ISIS Has a Smartphone App

#7

Post by CaptSpify » Sat, Jan 16, 2016, 8:55 PM UTC

mathgeek wrote: post #4

> Apple and Google could easily kick apps used to organize violence out of their official app stores. But would they be willing to build further barriers to usage directly into their mobile operating systems? This is a silly question for the Android side (and possibly the iOS side as well). That would be a monumental effort that would seem easily thwarted by simply installing your own version of the OS.

You wouldn't even need to install your own OS. You can just side-load

Re: ISIS Has a Smartphone App

#8

Post by jug5 » Sat, Jan 16, 2016, 8:56 PM UTC

wstrange wrote: post #5

Which I am sure the intelligence agencies are having a field day with. Nothing like rolling your own encryption. What are the chances it was created by one of the intelligence agencies?

Chances are 10/10

Re: ISIS Has a Smartphone App

#9

Post by AdmiralAsshat » Sat, Jan 16, 2016, 8:57 PM UTC

Alrawi can’t be downloaded from Google Play. Instead it must be installed from shady back alleys of the Internet.

Well, there's your obvious solution. Get a copy of the APK, wrap it with some spyware, then propagate the bugged version. If ISIS won't host the source or can't provide an "official" outlet to grab it, you've got no way of knowing whether your version is legit or not.

Who'd have thought the paradigms of shady Russian download sites could one day save the world?

Re: ISIS Has a Smartphone App

#10

Post by mhw » Sat, Jan 16, 2016, 8:59 PM UTC

And there go the arguments for putting back doors into commercial encrypted messaging platforms. When encryption is outlawed, only outlaws will have privacy.