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

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.

yoz ,

Mate we live in a 5 eyes country so whatever shit you see in the USl by default you'll see it here. Its sad but that's how it is and regular 9-5s can't do much about it

Wirlocke ,

That "rated 3 and up" is killing me.

Finally a solution for those jobless deadbeat infants.

lemmyingly ,

Since when are they allowed to lock you out of your purchased property without a court order?

That's an oxymoron. Creditors have the ability to lock you out of a device you haven't paid for yet. Standard terms and conditions in B2C and B2B; you don't own it until you've paid for it in full.

Also locking you out of a device you don't own yet is cheaper than taking you to court.

yoz ,

Anything that connects to internet is something that you don't own. Companies can change their T&C anytime and take control of your device if it connects to internet.
Hence smart people never buy anything that connects to internet.

Ajen ,

Where did you hear that? Can you share a link? It's not entirely true, but it does apply to most IoT products.

yoz ,

Watch Louis Rossman on YouTube. All this recent videos are about Roku , Vultr and other big brands changing T&C,

Ajen ,

Right, that's true of cloud-based services, but not "anything that connects to the internet."

yoz ,

🤦‍♂️

planish ,

There oughta be a law

Goldmaster ,

What's stopping someone from enabling debug mode, downloading adb tools and running pm uninstall --user0 then the package name? Surely with the app removed, the app can't brick your phone. Or running a custom rom like lineage or graphine os?

Underwaterbob ,

What’s stopping someone ...

Your average someone has no idea what any of that means.

madcaesar ,

I've used odb before to debloat and I barely remember how I did it 😂

FriendBesto , (edited )

My guess is they are leveraging the techninical and technology illiteracy of the average consumer to not only not know this can be done but to even know how to even look it up. I have done some tech support for people that I have known for 20 years here and there and I am still oustanded at how little people know about tech outside social media sites, or have but only the most superficial knowledge on anything outside their work related applications. Many, many People just can't do their own research today specially, or so it seems in the aggregate. Unless perhaps if it is a hobby.

Also, perhaps some of these people may have shitty phones that may not have an option to install a custom ROM, too. Assuming they even know want a custom ROM even is.

scratchandgame ,

the phone world is fucked. Use a landline phone :)

coffeeClean ,

The fun aspect to this is that some banks have forced customers to use an Android for all their banking ops. So:

① You’re late paying a bill
② Creditor locks your phone
③ You cannot access your bank to make the payment because your phone is locked

Brilliant.

coffeeClean ,

You can check it’s installed (stock android) Settings > Apps > All Apps > three dot menu, Show system > search “DeviceLockController”.

Is that just a “feature” of recent AOS versions? AOS 5’s triple dot menu has nothing like “show system”.

MisterFrog OP ,
@MisterFrog@lemmy.world avatar

Not sure, perhaps I should change this to "Google Pixel Android 14"

root ,

Asus Zenfone 8 purchased outright in Australia. App does not exist on my phone.

Lucidlethargy ,
@Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works avatar

Interesting. It's not available in the US.

MisterFrog OP ,
@MisterFrog@lemmy.world avatar

It's not "available" in the Australian Playstore either, whether it's installed so far seems to be how old your phone is (rough feeling based on comments). Not yet clear what the pattern is.

Bitflip ,

This is pre-installed on my 6a, also purchased outright, unlocked, directly from Google in the US.

steventrouble ,

Here's an article that explains more about what this is: https://www.androidauthority.com/device-lock-controller-1175637/

MisterFrog OP ,
@MisterFrog@lemmy.world avatar

Many thanks for this

Zacryon ,

They just fuck with Kenyans. And that's obviously okay, because they are not part of the western nations. /s

acetanilide ,

Thanks for sharing this OP. I turned on the notifications for my browser, and when I went on FB (thru firefox, not app) one of the connection notifications was to a website I went on once a few weeks or even a month ago. I knew it was creepy but damn.

I do have ublock origin but obviously that's not enough. I wish i could get rid of FB but there's 2 things i haven't been able to replicate elsewhere.

I'm just flabbergasted but wanted to say thanks.

MisterFrog OP ,
@MisterFrog@lemmy.world avatar

No worries mate

alonely0 ,

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.

ToyDork Bot ,
@ToyDork@sh.itjust.works avatar

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 ,

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

ToyDork Bot ,
@ToyDork@sh.itjust.works avatar

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.

iturnedintoanewt ,

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.

coffeeClean , (edited )

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.

PrettyFlyForAFatGuy ,

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

alonely0 ,

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 ,

i have an exynos samsung

Trollception ,

Pixel 7 Pro reporting in. There is no DeviceLockController on my phone. Just installed the latest monthly updates a couple of days ago.

01189998819991197253 ,
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

Pixel 7 Pro here and on the latest update, and I have it. Mine is from factory, so no payment plan at all.

Trollception ,

Probably a carrier thing. I'm on TMobile

01189998819991197253 ,
@01189998819991197253@infosec.pub avatar

As am I.

iturnedintoanewt ,

Pixel 7 with GrapheneOS. I have it, and I'm in Asia.

JasonDJ ,

iPhone 12 Pro Max with ios17 and I don’t.

pascal ,
@pascal@lemm.ee avatar

Sony Xperia 1 here, no app, neither.

TheFinn ,

Pixel 6a here in the US. I bought it directly from Google. I have the app.

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