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Google Allows Creditors to Brick Your Phone (lemmy.world)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by MisterFrog@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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I installed NetGuard about a month ago and blocked all internet to apps, unless they're on a whitelist. No notifications from this particular system app (that can't be disabled) until recently when it started making internet connection requests to google servers. Does anyone know when this became a thing?

Edit 2: I bought my Pixel 6 phone outright, directly from Google's Australian store. I have no creditors.

Were the courts not enough control for creditors? Since when are they allowed to lock you out of your purchased property without a court order?

I don't even live in the US, so what the actual fuck?

Edit 1: You can check it's installed (~~stock~~ Pixel 6 android 14) Settings > Apps > All Apps > three dot menu, Show system > search "DeviceLockController".

I highly recommend getting NetGuard, you can enable pro features via their website if you have the APK for as low as 0.10€, but donate more, because it's amazing. You can also purchase via Google Play store.

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[–] alonely0@programming.dev 37 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

Yeah it's because they ship the same OS image for everyone, be it US on a carrier plan or otherwise. Google services has complete control over your device (more than just locking it down), and that's what you should be upset about. For you that app is just harmless bloat, what's actually spooky is google play services as a system app. Do yourself a favor and install grapheneOS.

[–] iturnedintoanewt@lemm.ee 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yeah well, my GrapheneOS Pixel 7 with gservices (not a choice for some banking apps) has the damn device lock controller app installed. I can't remove it. At least Graphene allows me to revoke its network/location permissions, which, by the way, it had granted by default.

[–] ToyDork@sh.itjust.works 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

This. Didn't even use my Pixel 8 (then brand-new) until Grapheme OS was available for it (my Pixel 7 Pro got damaged beyond repair in an incident, not happy but though I expect privacy I don't expect a phone to survive ~20G of force) because fuck Google.

[–] wheeldawg@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Well now you're burying the lead here. What situation involved 20g of force?

[–] ToyDork@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Not sure, but I think the WiFi on it was defective or something because I had ridiculous amounts of trouble setting up smarthome devices on that phone. After several DAYS of it, I lost my temper. The 20g forces are a wild guess but the phone was unsalvageable.

Keep in mind I bought that Pixel 7 Pro on eBay.

[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

every time i have tried to install another OS on an android phone i have ended up bricking it.

[–] alonely0@programming.dev 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Good luck bricking a Pixel while following Graphene's installer. If it protected the phone from me, someone who bricks basically everything they touch, it'll be fine for you.

[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 1 points 8 months ago

i have an exynos samsung

[–] coffeeClean@infosec.pub 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Isn’t this more easily fixed?

$ adb shell 'pm disable --user 13 com.google.android.gms'

grapheneOS and the like might work for the OP and anyone with a mainstream phone, but there are a lot of unsupported cheap obscure phones which are stuck with stock Android.