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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
Starting December 19, Samsung will begin distributing a software update that prevents the phones from charging and "will eliminate their ability to work as mobile devices." The software update will be rolled out over 30 days.
[...] Samsung is encouraging anyone who has not yet returned their device to power it down and contact their carrier to obtain a refund or exchange, or visit its Note 7 recall website for more information. The company recalled the device earlier this year because the battery on some units overheated and caught fire. Samsung also permanently stopped production of the phone.
But leading US mobile carrier Verizon has decided not to push out the update, citing safety issues. Here's the statement it released:
"Verizon will not be taking part in this update because of the added risk this could pose to Galaxy Note 7 users that do not have another device to switch to," the statement read. "We will not push a software upgrade that will eliminate the ability for the Note 7 to work as a mobile device in the heart of the holiday travel season. We do not want to make it impossible to contact family, first responders or medical professionals in an emergency situation."
(Score: 2) by halcyon1234 on Tuesday December 13 2016, @04:57AM
Original Submission [thedailywtf.com]
(Score: 2) by stretch611 on Tuesday December 13 2016, @05:26AM
Is anyone else concerned that there even exists the ability to remotely brick every phone?
I think a better question here is if anyone is actually surprised by this ability.
It is already known and we see the occasional news story about how a ebook on amazon is removed from a kindle... or how google can remotely uninstall apps. Heck, if you have a car with on-star, they can remotely disable your ignition and slow your car down until it stops; effectively "bricking" your car until they turn it off. (and trust me, they still have this ability even if you do not subscribe to on-star as long as it was installed on your car.)
So, again, does it suprise anyone here that a phone manufacturer can brick your phone?
Now with 5 covid vaccine shots/boosters altering my DNA :P
(Score: 1) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Tuesday December 13 2016, @05:27AM
Microsoft can do that to every PC made since 2006 or so.
But yes, it is a little creepy.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @03:42PM
More likely since Win95sp1 when they went to bed with NSA.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @05:38AM
um... no, the ability does not exist. this is why they need the software update to happen.
if you can control whether or not the update happens on your phone, then you are still the one in control.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @11:14AM
You don't have that much control. A lot of these devices have locked bootloaders and don't grant root access for users. Control what be if 100% of the software was free software, if the bootloader was unlocked, and root access were granted to the users.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @05:53AM
If it isn't illegal why is it illegal for others to do the same?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @12:39PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @04:55PM
Hmm I'm sure some malware authors can pop up a consent dialog box.
Especially one that does it Microsoft style: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/229040-microsofts-latest-trick-clicking-x-to-dismiss-windows-10-upgrade-doesnt-stop-upgrade-process [extremetech.com]
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Tuesday December 13 2016, @07:32AM
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @07:39AM
I'm pretty sure apple can do completely silent updates.
they refused to do it in the case of that nutcase with the guns, and the fbi made a big stink about it.
don't you remember?
(Score: 2) by stormwyrm on Tuesday December 13 2016, @08:02AM
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @11:28AM
Nope. In fact, many people have bewailed the possible security problems of updates that are blindly trusted from OS companies. This is one of many, many possibilities.
It isn't the first time it's happened, either - Nest bricked some "unsupported" home automation devices via update, devices that were, AFAIK, legally owned by people who were in fact not Nest. It's probably ridiculously easy to do this; if you want to effectively brick a Wintel machine and have access to the firmware, you can probably do it just by writing a JMP instruction to just the right place, and you'd need to replace the BIOS chip to fix it. It's probably ridiculously easy to do this with the update. I'd guess it's just a few thousand assembly instructions, tops, overwriting the boot loader. Anything else is probably just there to make it "pretty," e.g. a message that pops up on the screen to explain the situation to the owner.
There is something in this that you, and everyone else, should keep in mind. If a company can update the OS of your computer or computer-based device, they can 100% literally do almost anything they want to that device at any time they choose. I'm quite sure we will see much worse things coming down the pike thanks to the endless mantra of blindly trusting every update shoved at you on the assumption that the company is acting in the customer's best interests, instead of its own best interests.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 13 2016, @12:08PM
You should now go read "The Right to Read" by Richard Stallman
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html
As usual, what Stallman predicted, long ago, that far too many dismissed as paranoia is actually now coming true.
Except now, it will be very hard to undo the damage.