This post seems a bit too proud of itself. Love the first comment in the article though:
"Here is a list of stuff that tracks you installed on the page talking about how cyanogen will never track you. Note you need not interact with any of these to be tracked. Just browse the page you're reading.
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Not saying cyanogen is evil, or that these are unusual or unreasonable, or even missing the point about how carrier bloatware will inevitably lead to truly evil things like Carrier IQ. It's hard to get away from this kind of crap these days. The irony just struck me, that's all."
Of course they don't. But they do have CMStats (http://www.cyanogenmod.com/blog/cmstats-what-it-is-and-why-y...). While it is much better than Carrier IQ (less intrusive and prompts you to opt out on install), it still proves this info has value and even the most "fight the man", dogmatic open source project wants it.
"This info" is quite the weasel word. The set of data collected by cmstat, and what carrier's need spyware to obtain are mutually exclusive. Everything that CM stats collects would be available to carriers by looking at a combination of their sales, tower checkins, and firmware upgrades. After reading what data was included, I decided to opt-in my phone after previously opting-out by force of habit.
CyanogenMod is the reason why I was comfortable buying an Android, as I don't trust these Android phone makers to release updates in a timely manner or to care about me as a customer.
But how did you feel about all those strange programs you had to use to get root to install it?
Because when I went through the process I was extremely nervous - even though most of the code is open source, how would you spot a backdoor if it was buried within a line?
The ability to have root from the factory on a device you own should be a consumer's right in the states, just like getting your carrier unlock code.
Can't agree more with "The ability to have root from the factory on a device you own should be a consumer's right in the states, just like getting your carrier unlock code." but please remove "in the states".
When buying a computer, desktop or laptop, I would be extremely disappointed if I discover that I don't have the full ownership represented by "root access".
When buying a car, don't we get the keys of the doors and a way to open the front cover where the engine lies?
I don't understand why our expectations with mobile phones should be any different. People are letting go this ownership too easily. It worries me. I suspect there is some PR or FUD work behind the curtain.
We are told that full ownership is dangerous and unnecessary. Like any power given to the owners, it may be dangerous, yes: I can fill my car's gas tank with sugar and break the engine if I wish to do so. But I think this Carriergate shows well enough that full ownership of devices that are so deeply rooted in our private lives is of the utmost necessity.
Cars to computers always seems to be a poor analogy. But you can replace the ECU with one of your choice. In fact, there is an industry designed specifically for getting better performance from your car by customizing the ECU.
> But you can replace the ECU with one of your choice.
As a counterexample: There are certain maintenance procedures for late model Audis that can only be done at the dealership. The diagnostic tool is connected to the car and then phones home to a central system to get vehicle-specific codes required to perform some actions. One such action, oddly enough is getting the car to recognize a new ECU[a].
[a] you can circumvent this by reflashing another ECU with special firmware to become a 'clone' of the original but this would be very analogous to having to 'root' your phone to install different software.
I don't understand why our expectations with mobile phones should be any different.
The vast majority of people receive their cellphones under subsidy- signing up for a cellphone contract and getting a discounted price. In effect, you don't "own" the phone until the end of that contract, because they could (in theory?) take that phone away from you if you stopped paying every month.
Now, I'm not saying I agree with the line of thought but it's there. At the very least there should be the ability to root your phone after contract, or whenever you want if you buy the phone full price. Sadly, that doesn't happen often. But when I bought my Nexus One outright, it was very simple to root it.
No, you own the phone the day you sign the contract. The remedy for terminating the contract early is spelled out in that contract -- an early termination fee to cover that subsidy you didn't pay back by staying a subscriber.
I added "in the states" because I assumed Canada/Europe/etc. had far more sane laws about this already, but I admit I am ignorant as to if this is actually true or not.
I'm inclined to agree, but I want to make the caveat here that a lot of phones don't have encrypted bootloaders (e.g. the Droid RAZR) by default. The carriers throw a fit and refuse to buy the phone unless it's encrypted for their needs. So, the handset companies are listening. The carriers are the ones generally imposing these things.
CyanogenMod is only part of the solution: It still requires a proprietary radio stack for each phone and there is plenty of backdoor stuff someone could put into the radio code.
Users of any of the Nexus models don't, and for that I'm thankful. However, I hope Google takes this bad press seriously and does something more than merely distance themselves from third party cell manufacturers like HTC that have installed Carrier IQ on their phones.
Google could provide an update that would remove or disable Carrier IQ. Something to tide users over until the next OS update is available to their phones. I find it unlikely that Carrier IQ will be around on any device after ICS is installed (too much bad press for HTC, etc.),
but that may take some time or simply not even happen for some phones.
One thing that is starting to become very clear is that there are more advantages to the Nexus line than just getting swift updates! Third party cell manufacturers may have unwittingly created a two-tier Android market, with their modified versions of the OS in the bottom tier.
Google doesn't need CarrierIQ because they have their own spyware, such as in-the-background location tracking if you ever turn on the GPS or ask for location even once while running Maps or Plus, and of course because they mediate all your access to the world through their built-in apps, and don't offer an opt out from data collection and mining.
Hopefully, the number of users of CM will rise enough to give the carriers "competition" and stop putting stuff like this and other bloatware in them. Because once a phone is rooted, they can also use apps like the ones for free tethering and so on. And I'm sure they don't like that at all.
Not sure what you're calling out here. That end users have to root their phones in order to avoid something undesirable is not something that CyanogenMod can respond to. All the alternative firmware provides is a way to avoid something that is otherwise forced on you, and CyanogenMod is pointing out that it's offering that alternative.
I'm going to guess that the parent is calling out one of the standard geek fallacies, that being "Well, I made/found/installed a workaround for my device, and everyone else could do it. Problem solved."
It's a fallacy because not everyone has the technical skill to do it, and the amount of people who do have the technical skill are (I'm guessing, but I don't think I'm wrong) statistically insignificant next to the amount of people who don't.
So, the overall problem isn't solved, and the people who have the technical wherewithal to actually speak out about it as technical experts are, by and large, sitting in a corner with CM7 and saying "All good over here."
shouldn't, I heartily agree, but the hard reality of the matter seems to be that it is currently necessary. If you don't control root on your own device, you don't know (and can't find out) who else does.
I've been hearing some rumours of OEMs considering releasing phones with CM installed by default. They're definitely starting to actively support development (I think both Samsung and Ericcson have been providing devices, and the latter have definitely been hinting at providing much more support).
Kicking them when they're down and fishing for compliments at the same time; impressive. Perhaps next we'll hear that CyanogenMod doesn't cause cancer.
As an engineer I couldn't care less about their small post. I already knew about cyanogen.
As a run of the mill consumer though this post couldn't be more poignant. Raising awareness of an alternative firmware? That is huge. This is how Linux got started.
Blame marketing all you want but the more people who know about Cyanogen the better.
Cyanogen is still harder than jailbreaking an iOS device, but the gap is narrowing.
As that edge reaches more casual users, who aren't just tech-heavy people, there's no reason Cyanogen couldn't be the Ubuntu of Android phones. It could have a large base of converts who want an alternative but don't want to have to spend all their time learning how to use their software in (for us techies) awesome ways.
Not sure how CyanogenMod commenting on a topical issue that affects their target audience deserves a hostile response. Also not sure when people started caring about the feelings of telcos that put spyware on your phone by default...
If it turned out that basically every other mainstream phone OS had just been discovered to cause cancer, yes, I would say the fact that CM doesn't and never will would be welcome news.
"Here is a list of stuff that tracks you installed on the page talking about how cyanogen will never track you. Note you need not interact with any of these to be tracked. Just browse the page you're reading.
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Not saying cyanogen is evil, or that these are unusual or unreasonable, or even missing the point about how carrier bloatware will inevitably lead to truly evil things like Carrier IQ. It's hard to get away from this kind of crap these days. The irony just struck me, that's all."