DeGoogle Yourself

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A community for those that would like to get away from Google.

Here you may post anything related to DeGoogling, why we should do it or good software alternatives!

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motivation to deGoogle: Creditors can lock your Android remotely if you are delinquent. (infosec.pub)

submitted 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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The technical mechanism:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.devicelock

update

To be clear, I am not the OP who experienced this problem. I just linked them from here.

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago

I'm OOP, I bought this Pixel 6 phone outright directly from Google. This system app has no business being on my phone.

And even IF it was purchased on credit, this is such an unfair power dynamic which hurts the most vulnerable in society.

Miss a phone payment, get locked out, haha have fun trying to access your bank account (many people have a phone as their primary computing device to access banking, and further, many banks might have SMS 2FA).

I say, there is no excuse for this. There were repo methods before software locks, and we'd ought to keep it that way.

It doesn't appear to actually be used, at least in Australia, but having the functionality built in at all should be straight up illegal in a caring society.