[ale] Cory Doctorow, right again

[ted at techmachine.net (Ted W)]

On Mar 17, 2012, at 12:18 PM, Charles Shapiro wrote:
> ...
> 
> On -- for example -- the Verizon build of Android which came on my
> phone, it's not so clear-cut.  Verizon's Android build won't let me
> un-install the several applications (e.g. "NFL Mobile", "Verizon
> Video", "Verizon Messages", et cetera)  which Verizon thinks I should
> have.  That's a gaping security hole, plus being bad, wrong and
> outrageous.  I have no interest in trusting the NFL with any software
> on my phone, nor do I need Verizon to read all of my email as it
> passes through their aggregators.  Show me where I can remove
> arbitrary applications from an IOS device ?  Perhaps it's possible, I
> don't know.   I DO know that without that capacity, IOS devices are
> only as secure as Apple is.  From the URL I provided, that might not
> be quite secure enough.
> 
> ...


You've found the main reason I encourage anyone running an Android device to root their devices and use third party builds of the operating system. I am running on an EVO 4G from Sprint and there were several of these crap-ware type applications installed (and actively running) on my device. Not only did it pose a security risk that such applications were being forcibly kept on my device but by them constantly running in the background I saw significant drain on my battery. Once I rooted my device and loaded a third party build of Android on the device, not only was I able to provide myself with a more up to day version of all software on the device but I was also free to uninstall ANYTHING on the device my heart so desired.

> Curated software repositories such as Apple's App Store or the Android
> Market are fine, as long as users can opt out of them if (when) they
> no longer trust the curators

As many may remember, there was a young man by the name of Charlie Miller who was recently banned from the app store for disclosing a flaw in said app store. I would say that the banning a well known and respected security researcher would count, in my book, as a reasonable point to, as you would say, "no longer trust the curators".
-- 
Ted W. < Ted at Techmachine.net >
Registered GNU/Linux user #413569



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