It has been a long time since I posted tiny rants about things I classify as anti-features in my profile. The last one was on 6th December in year 2022. I stopped using profile messages for various reasons and this isolated episode wouldn’t fit there anyway. It needs way more room than a series of 420char posts.
Since this January I’m active in another, German language forum about Android devices. My hatred for the closed nature of the Android ecosystem hasn’t declined the least, but my knowledge has improved greatly since my first rants about it in my blog. In fact the more I get to know, the more I get angry about Android. It is such a missed opportunity to build a free and open system helping us to partially get rid of Windows. Many Stock ROMs qualify as malware for me, while free and maintained open source alternatives such as LineageOS are considered to be unsafe: *Gasp!* Unlocked bootloaders!
While android-hilfe.de generally seems to be a great forum, containing much valuable information, the atmosphere of communication is completely different compared to GBAtemp. I neither feel valued nor really appreciated for trying to help there. Being “the new one” isn’t as easy as it was here in 2018. These remarks about android-hilfe.de are needed for this isolated episode in the Anti-Feature of the Day series. I’ll come back to that later.
Supposedly this is a security feature to prevent theft (actually to prevent stolen devices from being usable). Access to the operating system is protected by a pin/password/pattern and if you don’t know this, you can’t access data (normal and very good!).
But if you choose to erase all data by force (factory reset the device through recovery aka "hard reset"), because you forgot your pin, the device is still locked afterwards if a Google account¹ had been linked to it. You have to sign in with the same Google account again to unlock the device. This is a mandatory feature for all devices shipped with Android 5 or higher.
Why do I think it is an anti-feature?
Yeah, think again!
Fact is, depending on the patchlevel of a device, FRP removal literally takes seconds and is free. For newer devices a license for shady, paid software might be needed.
On android-hilfe.de it is not allowed to assist people in circumventing FRP because it could be abused by thieves. It would be promoting illegal activity. Any information in this regard is banned from the forum. I completely understand this decision and would do the exact same if this was my forum! Linking to things, which can be abused(!) for criminal activity, is a big no-no in Germany.
More often than not help requests in this regard coming in are about Samsung phones not receiving updates for quite some time. The solution for this is on samfw.com, which ironically got linked often on android-hilfe.de as a source for downloading official firmware files in different context: “I need stock ROM.”
Like a text module, every question about FRP is answered by "Contact Samsung with proof of ownership. It will cost you 70€."
Case closed.
There is nothing that can be done about the inability to help people there for legal reasons, but the arrogant and condescending way “forum veterans” (not even mods!) deal with the topic is plain stupid. I got made fun off for being empathic a few times and for mentioning the very obvious downsides of FRP. Well. I’m objectively wrong for having an opinion deviating from theirs while even being able to provide reasons for it.
Those long-term members surely aren’t perfect in their life regarding all topics. Hopefully they will make some grave mistake in a non-technical field and get ridiculed for the “obvious-anybody-knows-to-avoid-this”-blunder.
I have been dealing almost three decades with computers in a pretty intense and interested way. I’m not a developer or a hacker or any of those half-gods, but I made my homework regarding backups. Such a thing would never happen to me as all data gets backed up multiple times and distributed across different type media including encrypted online backup for the most important stuff. And despite that I would never approach somebody in a condescending manner. My cynical signature is aware of it’s cynicism and I tried to mitigate it with an explanation.
I could not resist and made a meme picture based on Castlevania – Symphony of the Night ("Die Monster. You don't belong in this world!")
I'm not good at picture editing, but it should be good enough despite somehow the "a" at the end of Kumatora got lost somehow in the text at the bottom.
_______________________
¹ Maybe additionally manufacturer account. Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei… have their own rubbish
Since this January I’m active in another, German language forum about Android devices. My hatred for the closed nature of the Android ecosystem hasn’t declined the least, but my knowledge has improved greatly since my first rants about it in my blog. In fact the more I get to know, the more I get angry about Android. It is such a missed opportunity to build a free and open system helping us to partially get rid of Windows. Many Stock ROMs qualify as malware for me, while free and maintained open source alternatives such as LineageOS are considered to be unsafe: *Gasp!* Unlocked bootloaders!
While android-hilfe.de generally seems to be a great forum, containing much valuable information, the atmosphere of communication is completely different compared to GBAtemp. I neither feel valued nor really appreciated for trying to help there. Being “the new one” isn’t as easy as it was here in 2018. These remarks about android-hilfe.de are needed for this isolated episode in the Anti-Feature of the Day series. I’ll come back to that later.
Now: FRP – Factory Reset Protection
Supposedly this is a security feature to prevent theft (actually to prevent stolen devices from being usable). Access to the operating system is protected by a pin/password/pattern and if you don’t know this, you can’t access data (normal and very good!).
But if you choose to erase all data by force (factory reset the device through recovery aka "hard reset"), because you forgot your pin, the device is still locked afterwards if a Google account¹ had been linked to it. You have to sign in with the same Google account again to unlock the device. This is a mandatory feature for all devices shipped with Android 5 or higher.
Why do I think it is an anti-feature?
- It doesn’t stop thieves from grabbing my phone and doesn’t bring back my stolen phone
- Yeah, find my mobile exists for a while… I can't cover everything in detail here.
- Countless not tech-savvy people make a grave mistake in this regard: They sign up on Google – no matter if they actually need it – and don’t write down their credentials. anywhere. Neither password nor mail address get noted. Years later devices end up being reset because:
- Grandpa sadly died, a year later somebody wanted to use his old tablet again
- Unused for long time… don’t remember pin
- Complete crash of the OS requiring reflashing and factory reset (it happened to me)
- Device gets sold via eBay or flea market
- Kid plays around
- … not hard to imagine more…
- It is a nightmare for people buying used stuff. @Alexander1970 knows. And he knows where to put FRP.
- The old, locked phones get scrapped. Manufactures are happy, our environment not so much.
“Hey, Sinchen, stop it! This is an important security feature, not an anti-feature!
Thieves will know snatching phones will do no good and therefore will refrain from doing it. Only the baddies dislike such necessary features.
You can’t reduce safety™ and security™ to zero because some people are incautious!
Lol, recovery even states Google credentials may be needed!”
It is not a direct quote (or translation of a quote), but I have been told things like this.
Thieves will know snatching phones will do no good and therefore will refrain from doing it. Only the baddies dislike such necessary features.
You can’t reduce safety™ and security™ to zero because some people are incautious!
Lol, recovery even states Google credentials may be needed!”
It is not a direct quote (or translation of a quote), but I have been told things like this.
Yeah, think again!Fact is, depending on the patchlevel of a device, FRP removal literally takes seconds and is free. For newer devices a license for shady, paid software might be needed.
The Legal Stuff
On android-hilfe.de it is not allowed to assist people in circumventing FRP because it could be abused by thieves. It would be promoting illegal activity. Any information in this regard is banned from the forum. I completely understand this decision and would do the exact same if this was my forum! Linking to things, which can be abused(!) for criminal activity, is a big no-no in Germany.
Heise Verlag, a well-known publisher of computer magazines got in big trouble with the music industry for news coverage about software being able to circumvent copy protection – AnyDVD, formally produced by Slysoft, now RedFox.
Heise didn’t advertise anything, they did not endorse piracy, but they merely mentioned the existence of Slysoft and their products with the little known information, that AnyDVD can also remove some protections form CD-DA (which violate the Redbook standard anyway) and linked to Slysoft. The music industry sued Heise and won in the first instance. It took many years until the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) came the conclusion that the press was allowed to cover such topics and link to sources – leaving the music industry with nothing but a huge example of the Streisand effect bringing the case and Slysoft into the mainstream media.
The case was more exciting than any crime thriller.
https://www.heise.de/Dokumentation-Heise-versus-Musikindustrie-437717.html
(German language, copy it into deepl.com if you don’t read German)
Yeah, sue GBAtemp for news coverage about Yuzu and allowing links to Luma3DS boot.firm! That would be the German way. In view of these possibilities, Nintendo's lawyers are probably already getting their panties wet from excitement.
Heise won the (pretty obvious) case just because they also have good lawyers and were willing to fight until the end. Something a small blogger or non-profit forum or a homebrew developer could never do.
Fighting for your right needs money!
Heise didn’t advertise anything, they did not endorse piracy, but they merely mentioned the existence of Slysoft and their products with the little known information, that AnyDVD can also remove some protections form CD-DA (which violate the Redbook standard anyway) and linked to Slysoft. The music industry sued Heise and won in the first instance. It took many years until the Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) came the conclusion that the press was allowed to cover such topics and link to sources – leaving the music industry with nothing but a huge example of the Streisand effect bringing the case and Slysoft into the mainstream media.
The case was more exciting than any crime thriller.
https://www.heise.de/Dokumentation-Heise-versus-Musikindustrie-437717.html
(German language, copy it into deepl.com if you don’t read German)
Yeah, sue GBAtemp for news coverage about Yuzu and allowing links to Luma3DS boot.firm! That would be the German way. In view of these possibilities, Nintendo's lawyers are probably already getting their panties wet from excitement.
Heise won the (pretty obvious) case just because they also have good lawyers and were willing to fight until the end. Something a small blogger or non-profit forum or a homebrew developer could never do.
Fighting for your right needs money!
Like a text module, every question about FRP is answered by "Contact Samsung with proof of ownership. It will cost you 70€."
Case closed.
Empathy? Hell, no!
There is nothing that can be done about the inability to help people there for legal reasons, but the arrogant and condescending way “forum veterans” (not even mods!) deal with the topic is plain stupid. I got made fun off for being empathic a few times and for mentioning the very obvious downsides of FRP. Well. I’m objectively wrong for having an opinion deviating from theirs while even being able to provide reasons for it.
Those long-term members surely aren’t perfect in their life regarding all topics. Hopefully they will make some grave mistake in a non-technical field and get ridiculed for the “obvious-anybody-knows-to-avoid-this”-blunder.
I have been dealing almost three decades with computers in a pretty intense and interested way. I’m not a developer or a hacker or any of those half-gods, but I made my homework regarding backups. Such a thing would never happen to me as all data gets backed up multiple times and distributed across different type media including encrypted online backup for the most important stuff. And despite that I would never approach somebody in a condescending manner. My cynical signature is aware of it’s cynicism and I tried to mitigate it with an explanation.
Summary
- FRP is a pain in the ass for the legitimate owners (including people like me trying to give old things a second life)
- FRP doesn’t stop thieves from stealing.
- FRP gets circumvented in seconds by “the baddies”.
I could not resist and made a meme picture based on Castlevania – Symphony of the Night ("Die Monster. You don't belong in this world!")
I'm not good at picture editing, but it should be good enough despite somehow the "a" at the end of Kumatora got lost somehow in the text at the bottom.
_______________________
¹ Maybe additionally manufacturer account. Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei… have their own rubbish
