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.
Don’t buy a phone on collateral credit (like from a cell provider that “gives” you a phone with service). If you must, ebay a phone and use paypal.
If you can’t afford a $1200 phone by paying for it in “cash”, you need to aim lower.
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.
I for one am glad that it was deemed safe for 3 year olds to be indebted to creditors.
You have a pixel phone. Just install Calyx OS on it.
Even if this would help (I’m OOP, and according to some commenters it’s still installed on their phones running other OSes), I’m still outraged at the concept and the fact it’s installed by default.
Plus, “just” installing a different OS is not a terribly mass-market friendly thing.
It should be regulated against by governments. The EU is slowly heading in the right direction. We’re letting these tech companies do whatever the fuck they want to.
Most people don’t have the time or knowledge necessary to make their digital lives entirely private.
This has “stop global warming by making personal choices” vibes to it.
I want privacy by default, and I’m not going to apologise for that.
Don’t buy a phone on random creditors that install this shit. This has nothing to do with Google.
You going to ditch Linux because they support remote management too?
This has nothing to do with Google.
Google welded anti-consumer logic into the kernel. Of course that’s on Google. Just like Intel started making CPUs with a management engine that can only work against non-corporate consumers, basically saying fuck the individuals’ needs… putting individuals at unconscionable risk without their knowledge or consent.
Consumers have decisions to make. Is a consumer happy to feed a supplier who sells them something that works against them? Some are. I’m not. Going forward they fail to earn my business because they have too many masters.
You going to ditch Linux because they support remote management too?
Linux is not locked down. Users can remove anything they want from it.
If you get Linux from work it school it uses the same exact tech. No, you can’t remove it. You don’t own the phone. That’s how credit works. Don’t like it, buy the phone. You are just pissed that creditors are using it. Welding against the consumers 🤦♂️.
You don’t own the phone. That’s how
creditnonfree software works.↑ corrected that for you.
I’m OOP, I bought this phone outright. Google seems to be installing this on phones by default (the actual pattern based on people’s comments seems to be more recent phones, but not all have it).
It’s even shipping within de-googled phones, at some base ASOP level (or the hardware, I dunno, not that knowledgeable), as some GrapheneOS use reported having it on their phones too.
I’m pissed because: 1. It’s installed when it shouldn’t be, 2. Gives inappropriate power to creditors, which hurts the most vulnerable.
Imagine acting like having a $1000 phone is a right. If you didn’t want creditors shutting down your phone, pay for it. Apparently this is an undue burden these days.
I bought a pixel from a german carrier in germany and installed GrapheneOS on it and this ‘app’ is still installed.
Then don’t pay over time if you don’t like not owning the device.
If you don’t control it, you don’t own it.
Which is why I bought my phone. See, my pixel doesn’t have remote management. Shocking how that works when you don’t choose to rent the phone.
I also paid full price and bought it from an official store with no connection to any carriers. Installed grapheneos and can confirm it is still present, whether anyone can use it is not is irrelevant if your putting shit in my phone that could potentially harm me. And you seem to take some kind of weird moral ground thinking people who default on a payment can have their phone which is a necessity in this era, turn into a brick if they choose to. You’re lucky you can afford to but be more empathetic to those who can’t.
Nobody needs a pixel. There are plenty of phones far more inexpensive than pixels lol. I NEED A PIXEL TO LIVE!
