Every for-profit entity hates FOSS as a concept, and they hate all the hard-working developers who put in time voluntarily. They hate all of it with a seething passion.

They’re not tightening Android up to protect users, they’re doing it to abuse and exploit them and restrict their ability to circumvent the data mining they conduct. There’s only one way they’d theoretically stop this course of action, and that’s if sales PLUMMET. Which won’t happen because the portion of people willing to abstain from new phone purchases to fight this is minimal.

There are millions of terrible trends that the consumer market has allowed to happen simply because the vast majority of consumers will bend over, drop trow, lube themselves up and say “Go ahead, I’m ready!” If we united and made an example of one brand and got even a six-month period of a drop in sales by 50% or more, they would beg us to tell them what do we want in return for buying again. We could have all the control we want, but people just don’t have spines.

Why has every company in the world turned pure evil?

FYI except for some phones like prepaid cheapies, Motorola always issues the unlock code. I’ve done it on a dozen different Motorola phones. It’s a fairly quick procedure.

Honestly it has surprised me given the giant plunge in quality that they took around the time of the first Razr until the early Droid units. They seriously dropped the ball and I had pretty much written them off. But nowadays their devices are absolutely beautiful. I’ve changed to custom ROM probably more Motorola units than any other, that’s not to say because of not liking them; I don’t like any stock rom. But Motorolas are just really nice phones. As a supplemental device to my primary phone I use also a Moto G Stylus 5G 2023. The XT2315-1. I’m actually about to ROM Iode onto there soon. But it’s a terrific phone. Just a little skinner than I’m comfortable with but I just put it in a bulky case and it’s fine.

Just thought I’d let you know, because you seemed to express apprehension at the idea.

Any Android I can’t either root or change the ROM I will never use. Period.

I would never buy a Google branded phone just honestly I know there’s ease of use and supposedly some of them are the most compatible with custom ROMs but really… they’re Google. They are not not evil.

Prevent, or create? Lol. Nothing sells new phones like current ones melting.

Correct.

Well then no compliance. I’ll take a dumb flip phone if it came to that. And with tethering I can use whatever I damn well please behind it.

We chould be fighting back. We could pick one huge company that has done a lot of bad, one that relies on willing patronage, rather than a utility or the like, and we could collectively boycott them to death. Overnight the worst offenders could be shut down. But try to get anyone to give enough of a shit to sacrifice so much as a fart.

I’m not blaming individuals at all; the corp CEOs are the true evils. But they will never change, and we have minuscule to no power over them. Government regulation could have in the past, but the corporations are the government now; anyone who still thinks otherwise is just in denial.

So it’s up to the individual to choose not to give their money and information to these companies. It’s up to the individual to starve them of their lifeblood. Even then, they might double down - these gluttons are not known for their sense of humility. So one or two must be made into examples - and it would need to be companies that don’t have backing like the auto and banking industries, otherwise it would just be our tax dollars bailing them out like last timeS where the worst of them retired on multimillion dollar “golden parachutes.” All that would need to get slaughtered at the conceptual level.

I will refrain from sharing more of my perspective on what I expect because I really don’t wanna be that much of a bummer, but we are really approaching our very last moment before we would be labeled as terrorists for installing our own ROM. And if we don’t wake up average Joe/Sue, they’ll just go along and eat it up.

One of my favorite lesser-known sci-fi shows is Continuum. Their depiction of the future society was so spot on it’s scary. Everything down to how good people can actually believe that individuals who don’t want to be born into slavery should be considered aberrant, and those who fight back are terrorists… it’s uncanny how close to that we already are. You should watch it, because it’s pretty much a road map for where we are almost at.

On the positive side, lots of people are getting to the point where they are fed up enough that they just might be receptive if the ideas are presented in the right way.

Nah… no matter what they do, people - especially Americans, are too lazy and apathetic to care. We all know about all the spying that has been publicly divulged and admitted to - by the phone company, by the NSA, by Facebook, the list goes on. And how many Americans made any change to their lifestyle? None. They still line up in droves to pour out their money for the latest spy device. How many times was Alexa demonstrated empirically to have uploaded conversations recorded without the owner’s awareness or consent? The sheep still BUY such devices.

Please don’t delude yourself that people have any reluctance whatsoever. Open arms indeed.

And that’s what the sheeple welcome with open arms.

If the day comes where it’s impossible to at the very least, clean off spyware stuff you don’t want, or install custom ROMs if necessary, then I’ll stick to older units that have the ability still. And if that ever becomes impossible, then stop using a smartphone.

And all the arguments in the world about how everything requires a smartphone - I don’t care about. That cannot be literally required, at least not for anything important because it’s not possible to assume/ensure that every person has one and that it is fully operational etc.

If this creates a nuisance for providers of various services, so be it - in fact, all the better because they can potentially be a source of pressure to maintain the availability of customizable devices. But that’s a very very miniscule likelihood; more likely is that they say well, too bad, if you don’t have a smartphone then this hospital can’t treat you. There may come a point where it literally will be impossible to functionally integrate in society without being spied upon 24/7. And in America at least, this will be welcomed with open arms because - well, you know: sheep.

But even then, there will develop a bigger and bigger fringe subculture of off-the-grid individuals who still value the concept of privacy.

So - like every sci-fi dystopia depicted in film and literature throughout history. Well, anyone who complains won’t be able to claim they weren’t warned a million times literally.

Why is this post FILLED with AI not comments? Are the corpo platforms so bitter about federated they want to just poison it?

I had hoped Lemmy mods would stay on top of stuff like that and ban bot accounts.

I sincerely hope that that is true. Then again my second concern that I mentioned is how long before it becomes a felony?

Question: what happens when, inevitably, every manufacturer locks down locks out etc. everything so not a single smartphone made can be modified in the slightest? Because I figure we’re only a few years away from that at best :-(

Better yet, what happens when the oligarchs make it a felony to modify your spy-device smartphone? Because we aren’t far from that either.

Here’s the alternative: only use a device that allows a custom rom that is stripped down. If those are also not secure or private then stop using a smartphone.

lol anyone who works in IT and finds Linux too complicated should not work in IT. Then again, most people who work in IT should not. It’s complex, but all you need to do is learn. People who can’t learn more all the time don’t belong in a field where things change and improve all the time.

I got started with tech starting from when I was like 7 yo in 1980 and ended up in IT since it was a passion of mine and I have an affinity for it. Working as a professional, I saw - DAILY - morons in the field who were bungling every other task they had. They didn’t think the right way, they didn’t understand it, they didn’t love it, and screwed up every other thing they did. DAILY I saw this from techs whose work I was called in to fix after the fact.

Good on your son! Glad he sees the light. Windows is shittier and shittier all the time. I migrated away from it years ago. It’s absolute poison now.

eBay has recently done something with their app. I had been using it on my Motorola installed from Aurora store but recently it would no longer work it insisted on installing from Play. I had to reenable Play services and try and found out now Play just says my phone isn’t a compatible device. Which is absurd.

Someone made a bad decision and their app has gotten really fucked. I just use the webapp instead now. On that device, anyhow.

Ohhh. I C. Also I realized it’s not functional on recent versions.

Karma firewall?

Hey, do you have any kind of link to somewhere I can find that illustrates thus process? I don’t doubt I could wing it if needed but I often run into one stumbling block after another to eventually succeed. If you don’t know of any guide that’s OK. Thanks for the reply, it is appreciated.

Yeah I don’t have any intention or need to keep a locked bootloader.

Yes, I thought this a bit ridiculous I’ve put a variety of ROMs on dozens of different models. There’s no self-destruct booby trap st the hardware level. Many are difficult some are impossible to flash, but nothing will break itself. That would be a suicidal business decision.

Thank you! I’ll see what’s available on XDA and def. will check the link you posted. Motorola is great with unlocking bootloader. Aside from one or two models that were prepay and not eligible for unlock they’ve provided the codes for all units I’ve tried so far. Should be OK.

Interesting? OK well you’re a stranger on the internet but somehow you think you’ve stumbled upon a Sherlock Holmes moment. But I’ll indulge you. The older Adobe PS Touch that they discontinued basically because it was perfect and they wanted to start peddling subscriptions. It’s a fantastic app. On iOS its gone for good but I have an old iPad 2 with it still installed. I have a Galaxy Note 10+/5G with Android 12 and PS Touch runs beautifully. From my research it seems that Android 14 is where it became impossible to install. Therefore I’d prefer to revert one version.

Also none of these devices are my primary device, none are my actual phone. They’re various pocket computers for various uses. So the Moto I’d really like to have PS Touch working. So I have no security worries.

I buy, refurbish and sell these kinds of phones and the first thing I usually do after testing all the hardware is remove accounts and wipe/factory reset. I’ve had hundreds of unsecured devices in my possession but I have no interest in invading the private lives of strangers nor of accessing their personal data. I respect people.

So, nothing nefarious just boring old typical real life situation.

Will do thanks.

I can never understand how people source their operation on a communication platform. It’s happening on Discord as well. No ownership or control; such a dumb thing to do.

Yeah attachments usually don’t last and they’re often linked on some temporary storage share. I will try some posts on there though. Never know.

I usually sell them or if they’re not desirable I either use as a pocket computer (I do tons of stuff) or give away to someone who wants to learn.

I’m not a developer so making my own build is not happening.

Cool. Thanks.

Well yeah and it’s why I’ll never buy a phone that isn’t sustainable. These companies are a poison to our world. It’s just very disappointing to me how few of us have a shred of integrity. It’s so sad and sickening.

The two big leaders Apple and Samsung they’re leading the way in the poison the earth brigade. And in these times all the assholes who talk about climate change yet use a ton of non-sustainable tech because it’s enjoyable…. They all sicken me and I have no respect for a single one. I’d just as soon they all drop dead.

Plus it means they’ll definitely have an inaccessible battery. More of that is the last thing many people want.

This isn’t exactly, but it actually looks like a really useful tool. Thank you!

Ace! Thanks so much!

Mine just has an icon that looks like fingers crossed lol ;-D

lol.

I’ll have a look at it thanks.