I actually like the idea of anti-theft FRP, but only if its a local-based instead of cloud based.
You know, like a BIOS/UEFI lock on a computer, but apply it to all the components instead of motherboard only, and get rid of the “remove battery to reset password” bypass, and its a functional anti-theft system.
I imagine its probably much easier to acomplish this on a intergrated device with CPU, Storage, RAM, all on one chip (SoC) like on a phone than with computers.
Unfortunately, corporations always just love to interject and add their “cloud” nonsense to it.
If they don’t implement the screen lock authentication on AOSP is total useless for private systems like GrapheneOS
Here’s a better idea: how about NOT making phones such stupidly high value items where thieves can access your bank account, make an instant loan and steal that, too?
Doesn’t your bank need 2 sets of creds to log in? Mine does.
also, i like my phone to be fast. If i wanted my phone just be a cheap thing, i’d buy a second hand google flagship from 3 years ago and flash with custom rom.
With my phone being high end, comes the risk of theft, like with virtually anything high end (watches, ice, etc)
Yeah, like access to “your” phone. Kind of stupid. It’s like fuck you to all banks. Get PGP signature services and fuck off with you demanded access to my fucking camera and mic.
Doesn’t your bank need 2 sets of creds to log in? Mine does.
That’s irrelevant when the mugger is holding a gun at you and telling you to input the passwords.
I wasn’t sure what you meant. I assumed someone stole your phone and tried to get into it.
I’m not sure how you can protect anything from the 5 dollar wrench attack :/
probably not having a phone or credit card. I’m sorry that fucked up shit is happening in Brazil.
There’s a significant difference between your phone being stolen and this random scenario you just made up.
This is literally one of the most common scenarios in Brazil. The city of Sao Paulo alone had over 103k cell phones stolen in 2023, almost every week on the news there’s a story about someone being forced at gunpoint to make a bank transfer before the criminals flee with the cellphone. In other situations, the victim is taken to a bank agency and the cash is drawn to the daily limit from a ATM (lightning kidnapping as it’s called here)
Be thankful this kind of shit doesn’t happen where you live
I used to work on phones, it was so great getting to help design these pocket computers the way I wanted to use them. I honestly saw the future being something like, “ok, cloud is a bit of a trust reach, but on the other hand, your phone becomes a cheap access terminal.” I assumed we’d hit a point, with how cheap the hardware inside the machine is, (to this day) where phones would ostensibly become something you could grab from a vending machine. They’d eventually become highly recyclable so you could just take an old phone and chuck it in a recycling bin to have the parts repurposed/recycled.
“Oh crap, my phone just fell out of my pocket and got run over!” Go to vending machine, chuck old phone in recycling, log in to new phone, old phone is nuked remotely if it still functions, new phone starts caching your “phone”. You’re back in business in minutes.
Phones would have no value to be stolen, phones are accessible to all walks of life, a fairness of technology access helps balance the world.
None of that happened, instead, it was a war of walled gardens, information hoarding, privacy violations, expense, distrust, and loan pyramid schemes so people can dump $1500 on $50-$200 worth of parts that will probably just end up being stolen and sold in aftermarket/underground markets in countries that are less well-off.
I’m kinda irked I ever tried to work on the tech to make lives better and do not regret my choice to not go back to that industry.
Heh, your vision is kinda like the one Google was touting back when they first announced/launched Chromebooks.
“Oh it broke? Login in on another and your computer is back!”
Don’t know if the modern Chromebook/ChromeOS still works like that.Edit: Oh wow, check out this super over the top ad they made to drive the point home, It’s still on the Chrome Youtube channel!
On the other hand I like that my phone does those things and don’t want it to be sellable in the event that someone decides to steal it.
While this sounds good. It’s not, at all
It’s good for the common user who’s happy to use all Google services and can remember (or has written down) their credentials.
It’s absolutely useless for those out of the Google ecosystem
It’s annoying through to disastrous for people supporting other peoples’ phones
Assumed as much without opening article
Isn’t that the way with almost every tech introduced into phones? “Track your phone while off (for arbitrary unit of time)” = you’re tracked by any Bluetooth beacon networks whether you want to or not. Also, “you’re now part of a beacon network whether you want to or not.”
Any 911/safety feature is just a reach for more tracking/stalking.
You get to contribute to traffic and wifi mapping so the company gets free telemetry they can use for whatever they please at the expense of your battery.
We’ll introduce notifications and then not give the user enough control, so notifications can become malicious nags to get you to look at your phone as often as possible.
We’ll introduce app stores that become gamified by the app devs, that push updates weekly or more frequently. The changes? Nothing, the dev just wants to reset the ranking of reviews and get the user to notice their app again for more user engagement, meanwhile, burning out your flash with every pointless update.
Oh, shoot, people are using phones too much, we’ll introduce “night filters” that only partially filter out blue light, and then let you feel ok about using your phone all night instead of sleeping.
Reckless transmission of telemetry from every app, which often have some blanket permissions to reach into your phone and extrapolate what other apps are there, characteristics of your phone to fingerprint. If you’ve ever used an app tracker blocker like 1Blocker on iOS or NextDNS or DuckDuckGo App Tracking Protection on Android, you’ll see some apps are spatic about gathering and transmitting telemetry. (Worse, some just start firing telemetry attempts at insane levels, like thousands an hour, if they can’t connect to the Internet, further depleting your battery.)
If you ever spin up an OS like Graphene that has all this telemetry junk removed, you’ll be surprised to find out that your phone’s battery can last days. That’s an actual useful powerful feature to have, runtime. And instead of having switches like in iOS to “only charge when you’re charging off green energy” you’re being more green by only having to charge your phone every 3-5 days. The charge/discharge cycles are also reduced, so your battery is now lasting years instead of 12-18 months.
Only if you’re willing to accept Google spy services and all that shit on AOSP, this stuff doesn’t work.
💯
Call your carrier to blacklist the IMEI. Done.
It has always worked this way, well before the smartphone era.
The only way to overcome is to find a country the phone works with and has carriers not part of the blacklisting networks. Doesn’t make for a very practical resale market…
So, now that’s out of the way, what control is Google actually trying to sneak in then?
Doesn’t do much.
Only your carrier would honor it, maybe even all carriers in your country, but they’ll ship it off to some other country and the phone would still work (might be missing a few bands, but still fuctional).
The only way for it to actually deter theft is for the entire device to essentially become a brick unless unlocked.
The idea itself is a good thing. The only bad thing about FRP is that it’s online-based instead of a local-lock.
That assumes it’s attached to a carrier. I had a phone stolen out of the mail.
Same as Apple: total platform control. Like HP and printer ink.
Some carriers/MVNOs won’t allow that request (Fi, Orange, US Cellular, etc.)
And how does it detect if something is „Stolen“ again?
You could just read the article. It is pretty straightforward and doesn’t require any spyware or profiling as others have suggested.
Someone tries too many times to unlock it with the wrong pin or pattern; someone tries to factory reset it with the wrong pin or pattern
Spyware. Tracking. Extensive databases. Sneakily active mics and cameras. SIM cards requiring phone numbers tied to government issued ID. Security cameras. Smart home. Facial recognition. Fingerprints. Been incarcerated? DNA.
Misinformation.
FRP is triggered by factory reset through any method that’s not from the settings menu (eg: Recovery Menu).
It doesn’t require “spyware” to work.
Google’s spyware issue is a whole separate topic from FRP.
If they wanted to, the developers of Graphene OS could design a FRP system that has nothing to do with Google at all.
They fingerprint your residence, and general location in the first day.
The actual fuck?
And what if I go on a hajk for 2 days and stay in some crackhouse without any connection that night? Will it just lock up and not allow me to call for help until i Am vErIfIeD tO cAlL fOr a tAxI? What if I get hurt and have to call someone to pick me up?
You can enter your screen lock to unlock it. Should you want to factory reset it you would need to enter your screen lock
How about reading the article?
Yeah what the actual fuck?
What are you rambling about, lunatic?
Rent Based Economy.
All these corporations want to make all their properties subscription based, in some form.
Fuck you google
Smartphones are common targets for thieves because they contain valuable personal data and fetch high prices on second-hand markets. To protect this data, Android includes theft protection features that lock down a stolen phone. While thieves might try wiping phones they intend to sell, Android already has robust protections against unauthorized factory resets. Google announced today that these factory reset protections will become even more powerful later this year.
Self-contradicting much?
These justifications are pointless anyway, everybody knows that google and only google has the right to rummage through your data.
“We will not allow you to reset the data until we can confirm that the data is yours”
If you want security and at the same time want to be able to identify your device if stolen, just scratch your name into the back. Or paint it with a marker. Or whatever
Apple can’t even do that and they have total control of the hardware as the only manufacturer.
Google has hardware they control. Other OEMs can choose to make it available. It’s up to them to implement.
That wasn’t the point.
What is the point?
That it’s not possible. Roadblocks are the best you can hope for.
Why is it not possible
hello based department? i’d like to report Google
My $300 G84 isn’t worth nicking. Does all I need nicely though.
