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Google is using the boiling frog method to exclude power users and custom ROMS from android.
A new feature in Android 8.0 Oreo, called "Rollback Protection" and included in the "Verified Boot" changes, will prevent a device from booting should it be rolled back to an earlier firmware. The detailed information is here.
As it rejects an image if its "rollback index" is inferior than the one in "tamper evident storage", any attempts to install a previous version of the official, signed ROM will make the device unbootable. Much like iOS (without the rollback grace period) or the extinct Lumias. It is explained in the recommended boot workflow and notes below, together with some other "smart" ideas.
Now, this might seem like a good idea at first, but let's just just imagine this on a PC. It would mean no easy roll back from windows 10 to 7 after a forced installation, and doing that or installing linux would mean a unreasonably complex bootloader unlocking, with all your data wiped. Add safetynet to the mix, and you would also be blocked from watching netflix or accessing your banking sites if you dared to install linux or rollback windows.
To add insult to injury, unlocked devices will stop booting for at least 10 seconds to show some paternalist message on how unlocking is bad for your health - "If the device has a screen and buttons (for example if it's a phone) the warning is to be shown for at least 10 seconds before the boot process continues."
Now, and knowing that most if not all android bootloaders have vulnerabilities/backdoors, how can this be defended, even with the "security/think of the children" approach? This has no advantages other than making it hard for users to install ROMs or to revert to a previous official ROM to restore missing functionality.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @03:58PM (11 children)
I've never needed or used any mobile device. Behaving like they are a necessity is part of the problem that allows companies to be so abusive in that sector.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @04:44PM (2 children)
Pffft, you can try and ignore popular trends and declare them stupid but that is ignorant and arrogant at the same time.
Mobiles are insanely convenient, the only downside being that they are so centrally controlled. That is an easily fixed problem, but it would pretty much require eliminating the concept of authorized devices. This means that the concept of ISP needs to become public infrastructure like roads.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:32AM
It is neither. People survived perfectly fine without them before and so can I. I might use them if they weren't designed from the beginning to be spy devices and locked-down proprietary garbage, but that sadly is not the case
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 07 2017, @03:56PM
"that is ignorant and arrogant at the same time."
Translation: Pointing out my foolishness demonstrates your ignorance and arrogance.
Come on, dude, your life does NOT depend on some stupid electronic device. Well - not unless you wear a pacemaker or some similar device. It's just a phone.
(Score: 2) by Fnord666 on Wednesday September 06 2017, @06:11PM (7 children)
How much is a call from a pay phone these days, assuming you can find one?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Grishnakh on Wednesday September 06 2017, @08:54PM (5 children)
Um, that last part really is your answer. You can't find one. I can't even remember the last time I saw a pay phone that was in working order.
If you need to call someone and you're not at home and don't have a cellphone, your options are to beg a stranger to borrow their phone, or go into a business and beg them to use their phone. Not really a good position to be in, especially if you have an emergency.
The parent's logic is idiotic. You could say the same thing about cars, electricity, etc. The reason companies are so abusive in this sector is because of a lack of proper governmental regulation, which is the exact reason our electricity is reliable and cheap: we *do* have proper regulation there for the most part.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 06 2017, @09:58PM (1 child)
the government will save us? lmao!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Wednesday September 06 2017, @10:53PM
This is starting to look like a legit case where some sort of minimal government regulation is going to be needed. We would never accept Ford selling cars that only burn Ford gas, have locks on the hood only certified Ford tech can open, etc. No, we passed laws mandating standards for interoperability and 3rd party parts and service. We need to do likewise for computing devices.
Locks should be permissible only when the final end customer gets to control it. A card with a QR code with a master key to control the boot keyring for example. Let it ship with a key for Google, the handset maker and even the carrier, but if you bought it you get the power to revoke em all and install your own, although that might mean installing your own OS. In the case of a carrier owned phone, they could keep the key until you pay off the loan since you could lock them entirely out of property that is still theirs but would have to fully disclose it.
Then forbid deals which function exactly like the person walking around with the phone is the owner but technically they don't own anything so don't get the keys. No open ended leases, forced rentals, etc. unless an actual monthly fee is being paid, damage is covered and you can turn in the phone under agreed to conditions.
Finally, at least make threatening noises about fully documenting hardware again. Might not want to pull the trigger on a mandate just yet, at least see if ANY vendor would do it first. If none will, pretty obvious there is unseen influence at work so smash it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @12:34AM
The parent's logic is not idiotic. You can work to have the government add new regulations to stop harmful behavior while also refusing to use devices that do not respect your freedoms; that's what I do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 07 2017, @02:37AM
> You could say the same thing about cars, electricity, etc.
Let me introduce you to a very happy Amish family that I know...
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 07 2017, @03:57PM
"a lack of proper governmental regulation"
Everything is properly regulated in North Korea, isn't it?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Wednesday September 06 2017, @09:03PM
There are practically none left. The bus station which I walk past quite often ripped out their payphone a few weeks ago. It has not been replaced. Other than that one, I cannot recall seeing one anywhere else.
That being said, there is some hospitality left in this dead rotting carcass of a country. I've been asked, and I've asked, for the use of a cellphone by people I come across. Businesses these days don't have too much of a problem to borrow their landline for a second. Restaurants are usually pretty cool like that.
A payphone would only be if you couldn't find a cellphone, and you also happen to have a bunch of quarters on you. You know, because of all the arcades that still exist too that take quarters :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.