Post #1883097

2025-09-10 04:17 UTC

We really need a legislation to force Android vendors that are selling their phones in EU to allow &quot;bootloader unlocking&quot;. Like, come on. It&#39;s literally a one-bit check by an &quot;application&quot; before loading the Linux kernel. Yet, vendor after vendor is removing the ability to skip this check for muh &quot;security&quot;. It&#39;s never about security, it&#39;s about control. If you can&#39;t install your own OS, they can collect your data to sell and push ads onto you. It&#39;s basically like buying a laptop in 2008 with Windows Vista and pre-loaded malware that made it unusable. Everyone wiped it and installed a clean copy of XP or Linux, imagine being unable to do that... If we don&#39;t stand up to vendors, in the future they&#39;ll take this option away. I hope they realize there&#39;ll be no reason to buy Android anymore (no way to &quot;sideload&quot; due to Play Protect, no way to replace the OS/remove GApps) and everyone will go &quot;fuck it, I&#39;m just gonna get an iPhone&quot;. For many years Android/iOS duopoly was unbreakable, but thanks to Google&#39;s recent (stupid) decisions this could (and I hope will) change. Current &quot;smartphones&quot; are just the prefect tools of digital dystopia.

Replies (8)

@SRAZKVT@tech.lgbt 2025-09-10 05:51

@elly "there'll be no reason to buy Android anymore" price will still be one

Open ##1883297
@Logical_Error@fosstodon.org 2025-09-10 08:24

@elly ive documented companies failing to distribute collect licenses code on https://fosstodon.org/@Logical_Error/115139646906750783 maybe an article regarding bootloader locking might be useful here as well getting louis rossmann’s attention on this will be critical

Open ##1883298
@stepan@mastodon.skorpil.cz 2025-09-10 08:24

@elly I would be really cautious with the wording. Instead "bootloader unlocking" I would force something as "alternative system installation with posibility to apply same security measures" as much broader set of features is needed to install OS. You want to allow unlock bootloader, flash custom OS, load custom cetificates/keys/... to bootloader, relock the bootloader, verify and boot alternative OS signed with alternative keys.

Open ##1883299
@k8ie@toot.mcld.eu 2025-09-10 09:25

@elly We're going at it the wrong way. I say we, because I would have completely agreed with you until pretty recently. Regulations are not the way. When you regulate, you take away people's freedoms. We need to educate people and spread awareness. People need to know companies are stealing their data and profiting on it. More importantly, people need to know exactly how bad it is and that it affects them.

Open ##1883300
@caravantraveller@social.cologne 2025-09-10 16:44

@elly I bought a cheap Android tablet, mainly for web browsing. Installing the F-Droid store app fails on it, so I can only install from Google Play, which annoys me. Installing a different OS is probably not possible either.

Open ##1883304
@cnx@awkward.place 2025-09-11 05:41

We really need a legislation to force public services to serve people without an electronic device, let alone one owned by Google or Apple like the current status quo.

Open ##1883306
@tautology@infosec.exchange 2025-09-11 06:01

@elly personally I never unlock or enable adb on my personal phone as I know what you can do with it. But I don't care enough to install a custom OS. My test phones though, I like to try and unlock them through whatever PBL version the chipset has without wiping userdata; just for the challenge. I do disagree with your premise that people will jump ship to iOS, especially as that already has the restrictions that Google is adding to Android. I don't think I ever will as I prefer the UX and ecosystem for Android. I think the sort of people who would want a custom controllable OS for their phones would just move to a generic AOSP device

Open ##1883307
@pixelschubsi@troet.cafe 2025-09-11 07:15

@elly make your voice heard at https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/Consultation_Review_DMA The more people let them know that this is needed, the higher the probability they will actually do it.

Open ##1883310