Has anyone else been the victim of maliciious adverts while visiting XDA? - Off-topic

I recently was on this site using my phone and (I'm not going to go back and figure out which advert was the culprit it's not my job) became the victim of the ransomware virus. I factory reset my phone rather than try to manually remove it. I had disabled my adblockers because though I can't afford to send money for your efforts (if I could I would but alas I live on less than $300 a month after rent and bills) I do feel like I should at least give something back and for now allowing myself to be subjected to 3rd party commercials is the best I can do. However this ended when that happened to me. You (XDA) has to put more effort into vetting the people who pay you to put their adverts on your site and or check to see that those adverts aren't being altered and used to mess with your reputation by attacking your visitors. Initially I was shocked that XDA may be a scam then after rationality set in I dug around and saw that the only fault (hopefully) of XDA is a lapse in security and that they too have been the victim of those green hat hackers. If that is the case, which I believe is the case you need to do something about it.

machFiver said:
I recently was on this site using my phone and (I'm not going to go back and figure out which advert was the culprit it's not my job) became the victim of the ransomware virus. I factory reset my phone rather than try to manually remove it. I had disabled my adblockers because though I can't afford to send money for your efforts (if I could I would but alas I live on less than $300 a month after rent and bills) I do feel like I should at least give something back and for now allowing myself to be subjected to 3rd party commercials is the best I can do. However this ended when that happened to me. You (XDA) has to put more effort into vetting the people who pay you to put their adverts on your site and or check to see that those adverts aren't being altered and used to mess with your reputation by attacking your visitors. Initially I was shocked that XDA may be a scam then after rationality set in I dug around and saw that the only fault (hopefully) of XDA is a lapse in security and that they too have been the victim of those green hat hackers. If that is the case, which I believe is the case you need to do something about it.
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Sorry to hear that .some pop ups do show up when I'm searching threads with my phone but I usually ignore them and close the page . I'm happy to say I've never gotten anything bad from using XDA.

I have no problem with xda so far. I have joined this forum since 2014
But, my friend has problem. He cancels his registartion as new member because of this:

willysusilo said:
I have no problem with xda so far. I have joined this forum since 2014
But, my friend has problem. He cancels his registartion as new member because of this:
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http://www.xda-developers.com/contact/#newaccount

Yes, I had been subjected to a lot of malicious ads while using XDA on Android for a while, especially opening of websites that make the phone vibrate a lot and you can not go back from unless you close the tab. Really annoying. I haven't had this problem lately though.

I encountered this too. Not on XDA but when surfing Internet in general on phone.
I never use the build in Android browser any more but Chrome or Firefox app. Never had it since than anymore.
I root all phones and for those who do also root: freeze the standard Android browser in Titanium Backup.

Related

Paid apps theory..

The reason that google hasn't dished out the paid apps like planned was most likely because 1 person could pay for it, download it and then spread it around to the rest of the android community.
I mean how could they prevent us (especially with root) from doing that.
I think that either they are gonna put a complete end to root (if possible),
or they're gonna completely redo the whole market and how it works.
Maybe make it so apps are originally apks but when installed they leave behind the installer and can not be installed again by finding the apk in the internal storage.
What are your thoughts?
Could be and what you said is being discussed in another part of dream forum. Tell you the truth I've been all over the internet constantly looking for paid apps and there is not much out there. Guitar hero said it was coming to android in jan and still isnt out yet! If they do that im sure someone will find a way around that as well though haha
stats555 said:
Could be and what you said is being discussed in another part of dream forum. Tell you the truth I've been all over the internet constantly looking for paid apps and there is not much out there. Guitar hero said it was coming to android in jan and still isnt out yet! If they do that im sure someone will find a way around that as well though haha
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http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=478445
Pay or not to pay for an application have been discussed for year and I believe there are people out there are willing to pay for the application they need, even the warez version is just some clicks away from them. You see how PC's software industry lives up? I cant find any software that cant be cracked. It's just a matter of time if someone is really wanna do that.
So it should be the same case here.
While I think there will be a common security thread in the Market I think developers need to also enact their own security to prevent priates. If there is one security procedure then it only takes one crack to take everything.
They will do like a DRM on the apks kind of like the iphone has now.
Honestly, anything they would do would probably be wasted time.
The iPhone anti-piracy mechanisms have been defeated recently, and whatever Google would put forth would likely be taken apart. There's just no way to prevent it, same as the problems that other platform developers have experienced.
There will always be people who pay for their apps, and there will always be people who pirate them, and very little can be done to prevent that.
It'll probably be something like every time an app is bought it is signed with an encrypted code that is given to each individual phone and coupled with a single application.
However, would each app have a different algorithm or would it all be one big pot.
Either way..
That would work rather well
Unfortunately for me though.
I am a pirate mateyys ARRrrrrr
haitiankid4lyf.
With as little offense as possible. You understand the stupidity of your screenname right? You're a kid? For lyf?
Peter pan or somethin?
topdnbass said:
It'll probably be something like every time an app is bought it is
haitiankid4lyf.
With as little offense as possible. You understand the stupidity of your screenname right? You're a kid? For lyf?
Peter pan or somethin?
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XD That made me laugh.
I agree. Remember though, there's not THAT many rooted users out there. I think that as long as the apps are priced reasonably, they'll be fine.

Booting ARM Ubuntu on Droid Bionic (BAD IDEA)

So to give a little history I have a Droid 1 rooted with CM6, that boots my custom made Ubuntu 10.04 ARM image from it's SD Micro. Well, I upgraded to a Droid Bionic this last week and decided to jump into root right away, which went very smoothly using petes root tools one click method. Then the hack came out for using the wifi hotspot, and that worked just fine, then I removed the bloatware, no issues... but then when trying to run the ubuntu.sh script to create a "chroot" environment for Ubuntu (androlinux.com), I found that the device does not support loopback devices out of the box, rooted or not. And when the device rebooted... it just hung on to the Moto Dual Core splash screen and refused to boot. No matter what I did I could not get the thing to boot back up, eventually after 2 hours of pulling the battery and trying to recover through the built in "recovery" with no luck... I sped down to my local verizon HQ and had them take a look... they were also unable to get the phone to boot and ultimately replaced my 6 day old Bionic.... Just a warning to those of you who may be looking to go this route, probably should wait for a full on custom recovery and rooted rom before trying to boot any ARM images.
My my old Bionic RIP....
edw00rd said:
So to give a little history I have a Droid 1 rooted with CM6, that boots my custom made Ubuntu 10.04 ARM image from it's SD Micro. Well, I upgraded to a Droid Bionic this last week and decided to jump into root right away, which went very smoothly using petes root tools one click method. Then the hack came out for using the wifi hotspot, and that worked just fine, then I removed the bloatware, no issues... but then when trying to run the ubuntu.sh script to create a "chroot" environment for Ubuntu (androlinux.com), I found that the device does not support loopback devices out of the box, rooted or not. And when the device rebooted... it just hung on to the Moto Dual Core splash screen and refused to boot. No matter what I did I could not get the thing to boot back up, eventually after 2 hours of pulling the battery and trying to recover through the built in "recovery" with no luck... I sped down to my local verizon HQ and had them take a look... they were also unable to get the phone to boot and ultimately replaced my 6 day old Bionic.... Just a warning to those of you who may be looking to go this route, probably should wait for a full on custom recovery and rooted rom before trying to boot any ARM images.
My my old Bionic RIP....
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Pretty dickheaded move in my opinion. I see that you mad no effort here to get support on getting your device to boot. Another fine example of how people suck. IMHO
I agree. You should have sought help here before returning to Verizon. You could have recovered your device. Its people like you that are driving up the price smart phones and making carriers and manufacturers lock down the phone. You get into doing stuff you don't know about and then when you screw up you make someone else eat the cost of your mistake. Thanks for bringing this to our attention but, most people know not to try and load custom software to a locked bootloader and stock recovery. Genius.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium
Brutal.... but funny.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium
This kind of **** gets tee squar's panties in a fraudulent bunch.
facepalm
what is this asshattery?
Hmm well.... you must be one of thoze google advocating yuppies falling in line like all the other little lemmings out there not giving two $#1ts about your privacy or the fact that all your searches are archived and filed kindly and neatly under peoples desks YOU DONT KNOW and disseminated to other corporates for a proffit... not to mention profiling... sorry friends but im a free citizen in this B30tch and i have the right to do whatever the F i feel like with MY phone that i pay for insurance on, and ridiculous fees for other BS the ITU deems necesary that we pay for... I absolutely love the fact that u think i drove up the price of this smart phone by tinkering with it.... ya take a statistics class then go take a look at verizons market cap and while ur at it take a look at google and motorola. These companies are, no kidding arround, ruining america. So u guys do what u like and join that good ol trendy movement. I on the other hand believe in my rights and privacy.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
You knowingly voided your warranty and then fraudulently used said warranty. You're a rationalizing ****. End of story. It's not even about cost or running a good thing, you just have no dignity.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
edw00rd said:
Hmm well.... you must be one of thoze google advocating yuppies falling in line like all the other little lemmings out there not giving two $#1ts about your privacy or the fact that all your searches are archived and filed kindly and neatly under peoples desks YOU DONT KNOW and disseminated to other corporates for a proffit... not to mention profiling... sorry friends but im a free citizen in this B30tch and i have the right to do whatever the F i feel like with MY phone that i pay for insurance on, and ridiculous fees for other BS the ITU deems necesary that we pay for... I absolutely love the fact that u think i drove up the price of this smart phone by tinkering with it.... ya take a statistics class then go take a look at verizons market cap and while ur at it take a look at google and motorola. These companies are, no kidding arround, ruining america. So u guys do what u like and join that good ol trendy movement. I on the other hand believe in my rights and privacy.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
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You still are an idiot for screwing up your phone and not knowing how to fix it. Regardless if we are google sheep, you are part of the reason why you are ruining it for the rest of us.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk
edw00rd said:
Hmm well.... you must be one of thoze google advocating yuppies falling in line like all the other little lemmings out there not giving two $#1ts about your privacy or the fact that all your searches are archived and filed kindly and neatly under peoples desks YOU DONT KNOW and disseminated to other corporates for a proffit... not to mention profiling... sorry friends but im a free citizen in this B30tch and i have the right to do whatever the F i feel like with MY phone that i pay for insurance on, and ridiculous fees for other BS the ITU deems necesary that we pay for... I absolutely love the fact that u think i drove up the price of this smart phone by tinkering with it.... ya take a statistics class then go take a look at verizons market cap and while ur at it take a look at google and motorola. These companies are, no kidding arround, ruining america. So u guys do what u like and join that good ol trendy movement. I on the other hand believe in my rights and privacy.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
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I hope they end up charging you retail price for the replacement phone they gave you. By purchasing that phone and doing what you did, you voided your warranty. It was repairable by other means, but you acted without thinking and returned a bricked phone (your own fault) to Verizon for a working phone, so you could attempt to **** it up like the last one. Stay away from XDA, you make us look bad.
edw00rd said:
Hmm well.... you must be one of thoze google advocating yuppies falling in line like all the other little lemmings out there not giving two $#1ts about your privacy or the fact that all your searches are archived and filed kindly and neatly under peoples desks YOU DONT KNOW and disseminated to other corporates for a proffit... not to mention profiling... sorry friends but im a free citizen in this B30tch and i have the right to do whatever the F i feel like with MY phone that i pay for insurance on, and ridiculous fees for other BS the ITU deems necesary that we pay for... I absolutely love the fact that u think i drove up the price of this smart phone by tinkering with it.... ya take a statistics class then go take a look at verizons market cap and while ur at it take a look at google and motorola. These companies are, no kidding arround, ruining america. So u guys do what u like and join that good ol trendy movement. I on the other hand believe in my rights and privacy.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
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So, did you pay a deductible or was the exchange free?
I'm not going to resort to name calling, nor will I wish any bad luck upon you, OP.
I will, however, ask you this: If you knew enough to come here to post, then why didn't you know enough to look in the subforum two below this one titled Droid Bionic Android Development, and specifically at this post which is hovering in the top 5 or so responded to posts - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1262540
I mean, reading the first post provides you with a link to http://briefmobile.com/droid-bionic-receives-fastboot-recovery-files which tells you in no terms that this is a good potential fix for
This Fastboot XML zip package could potentially assist bricked users with recovery back to the stock state. Motorola’s created a new file format for recovery that allows Bionic users to recover from a case of messed up software.
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The reason everyone here is attacking you is that you, who want to call us
one of thoze google advocating yuppies falling in line like all the other little lemmings out there not giving two $#1ts about your privacy or the fact that all your searches are archived and filed kindly and neatly under peoples desks YOU DONT KNOW and disseminated to other corporates for a proffit... not to mention profiling...
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- when you yourself explicitly stated that
So to give a little history I have a Droid 1 rooted with CM6
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- Well, last I checked, the Moto DROID original (I bought one on drop day back in Nov 2009, so I do have a little history with this device of my own) is also a Google Android device.
The reason everyone is getting angry with you is that you basically committed insurance fraud this way, and on top of that, you posted back as if you are entitled to commit said fraud. Those are the facts, and thus everyone is calling you names.
IMO, what you did was wrong, and lawfully, you should be prosecuted. But that is neither here nor there. If the VZW analysts . Moto analysts find enough evidence they may decide to do something - they may not. Who knows?
Next time, look around - this is a developer community, after all, and chances are you really haven't bricked your phone. These guys and gals eat, sleep, and breathe Android.
And they do it well.
"rationalised ****" lol OMG am i ever!!! I will own that!
Some of you actually make sense with the link between me and my "asshattery" and returning my droid. But most of you want to call names and well friends i was just honestly trying to help a community out with what i had suffered through. Ignorantly i have offended you... which was never intended. I assumed that most people are curious cats like myself. And for all of your info so i can put an end to this insurance fraud bs i bought the phone full price and got my second phone at an upgrade cost (had to use my wifes upgrade).... Not free. Hence the sad face in my first post. So all this prosecution crap... no. Voided warranty... yep! And knowingly so... Now some of you are going to retaliate "youre stupid for screwing up your phone and not check online to fix it" well short answer to that is i did check and was unable to find a cure and given some time i probably would have... but well the easy way to say this is hacking is an expensive hobby if it wasnt my phone itd be my comps processor for overclocking it too much (which ive done a number of times)... oh and someone posted about most people know not to try this on an encrypted bootloader... honest to god i didnt think it would effect it at all due to the fact that all i was doing was trying to boot an ARM image off an sd card... and have yet to find why that had any effect on the boot... Oh and another thing this was my very first post here... telling me to leave you guys alone cuz i make you look bad... that hurt :-(
Lol no not really... I love all of you xo...
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
This post has now officially made the transition from comedy to farce. I'm not complaining. I enjoy low entertainment as well as high.
Immolate said:
This post has now officially made the transition from comedy to farce. I'm not complaining. I enjoy low entertainment as well as high.
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Lol i thank you for ur ability to have a sense of humor... i would laugh at this as well...
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
The level of hypocracy and irony in this thread is astounding
This post started out about putting Ubuntu on a device. An operating system founded on community and sharing with open arms and friendliness. And the person who was attempting it was met with NOTHING but hate and persecution for how he went about resolving a very stressful and worry some situation.
Just cause someone does not handle a situation the way you see that they should, does not give you the right to throw insult after insult at them. Even if there is already a "hate filled band wagon" rolling by. In this community of developers who are presumably good hearted people, why is it not one person stepped up to make this into a real development thread???
I am not a developer and can barely write one line of code in Python. So I wouldn't be able to lend a hand. But as I am on the look out for a completely open device on the Verizon network, I am very interested in being able to put other operating systems on a phone. Especially as Ubuntu will be developing a dedicated phone OS in the next 2 years to go along with their computer and (soon to come) Smart TV OS line up.
Does anyone know of a thread that is honestly trying to get a Verizon phone unlocked to run other OS's?? This one is clearly resided to nothing but childish batter and remarks.
Good on the original poster for trying to keep his cool for the most part though.
**Edit: He did not commit insurance fraud, as I have paid fro the same insurance before and it specifically states that you will be guaranteed a new phone no matter what the issue. Even if it was your fault. It is justified by having to pay for it when you buy the phone, as well and needing to pay a deductible to receive a new phone. I actually put my D1 under the wheel of a car just to get a new phone. Cause I waited too long to learn about rooting and Verizon did an update that blocked root access. And the phone was getting to be sooo slow no matter how few processes I had running or few apps I had installed, that I couldn't take it anymore. Sometimes it would take 3 to 4 seconds just to move left or right on the home screen. I paid 50 dollars and got a Droid 2 Global as a replacement and rooted it with Z4 within 1 hour of getting the phone. Overclocked and tethered it within the first day. The only gripe I have with it is you can't put real custom Roms with custom kernels on this "Global" version cause the boot loader is still locked. Hence why I will not buy another phone that can not have the bootloader unlocked at all.
im pretty sure he didnt use the insurance but the warranty rather, insurance you pay for and pay when you get a replacement. I dont think he paid a dime after bricking his phone. that is where everyone is like wtf?
I did this as well.
I also tried to install ARM Ubuntu on my Bionic. It failed to install. I have not rebooted yet, do you have any suggestions that will save my device? I usually would have backed up the device, but I was so excited about Ubuntu that I forgot fo do so. I'm running .893, rooted (obviously). The only backup I have is from becore I rooted. Thanks.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1262540
This Fixes most soft Bricks and Makes your Phone the way it was out of the box. Stock and no root. its a fresh start. please read instructions carefully.
Woah.. no way!!!

[Q] virus at work?

Way off phone topic.... I did not want to sign up for another forum to ask this question. I figure that there are enough corporate techies here. I received an IM from the IT department at work saying there was a virus on my computer. He took remote access of my PC and ran a scan revealing trojan files in multiple profiles under documents and settings of several user Id's. I Browse safe at work only known news sites and XDA of course. I dont even use this computer very often. My fear is that this may fall on my head. Given that it was discovered when i was logged in to the computer at the time. and I I heard no one else in the department say that IT scanned their computer as well. Needless to say I am pretty scared about maybe loosing my job, The only reassuring thing I have right now is that from what I can see the trojan did how under my profile folder. can someone shed some light on this situation. or point me in a direction to reassure myself that this is not my fault.
Are you 100% positive that it was the IT department IMing you? Kind of sounds to me like a prank or one of those fake antivirus software.
Err.....wow! I understand what you are going through mate. had the same issue with an ex-employee here that clicked on the wrong link and ended up with an ugly piece of malware in her PC. PC died and had to be replaced.
The only reason for you to be afraid is that "you" know what sites you visited or what files you downloaded otherwise there should not be any repercussions.
Now, if your company forbids in any way the use of the PC for personal use and you did so and ended up costing them money...I would highly suggest going to your superiors and talk to them apologizing for the incident and promising that this will never happen again.
Also....be aware of pop-up windows telling you that you have a virus or trojan and asking you to click on the "scan" button...that's how she got that virus
I am sure this wasnt a prank.... the took remote access to my pc and did some work nobody that knows me could have done. Your right MTM my only saving grace right now is that I know what sites i visited and i know what i have done. My work permits moderate personal use during down time. I dont know much but I know not to click any suspicious links. I am mildly tech savvy. The only thing i ever downloaded to a work computer is a zipped rom from this sight, because I killed my Evo once or twice at work. we do have a lot of down time.... during that time I can look around and see numerous people on facebook streaming videos and even watching dvds in the company machines I guess my work ethic does not undertand this. I know the hammer is coming down... I guess my real question is that if by chance i caught this virus would have showed up in my profile as well as the others because i did not see it in mine just about 8 other peoples profiles on this PC. Thanks alot for your responses. I guess paranoia and fear has gotten a hold of m e At the moment I am grossly underemployed at the moment and this job is misery but i am lucky to have it and really cannot loose it.
Oh yea and LOL on your thread cat
Good luck mate and hopefully there won't be any repercussions and if there are....an important lesson has been learned here, I hope
Cheers,
Chances are the trojans were in your temporary internet files folder under your profile and from the sounds of it other people who've used your computer have had it too.
I wouldn't worry about it, legitimate sites can get hacked and then infect visitors, or just get downloaded to temp internet files without infecting anything.
Same here...
My personal computer at home was infected two nights ago by a "Rogue:Win32/FaceScanti" virus/malware. The funny thing was the time/datestamps on the files (under the hidden AppData folder in my user directory) were during a time I wasn't even on the computer. I did, however, have several IE windows open on XDA threads. (I'm not big fan of how XDA pages constantly refresh in the background, either.)
Anybody else have something similar happen to them, or suspicions that it might have come through an XDA forum ad? I'm an IT professional, and VERY careful what I do and do not click on.
Strange I don't think that is what happened in my case but what do I know... I see people at work visiting sites on work machines that I would not go to on my worst enemies computer. My mind was eased today when I got to work and I actually saw some one on the pirate bay site . But I am still confused as to why the virus would show up while I am logged in but not show in My profile folders during the scan. oh well thanks for your input everyone
And I an not in IT to any extent and I don't click on anything!!!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Anyone getting tired of people charging on craigslist to root/jailbreak?

I see this all the time and it really really bothers me. People that have done nothing other than read some forum posts that are readily available to anyone with an Internet connection are making money off of others hard work.
I just posted this to my local craigslist.
"Don't get scammed, all of the jailbreaking and rooting methods are available for FREE online.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Android+Root
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=iPhone+Jailbreak
The odds that someone willing to root or jailbreak your phone for cash and being the person that created the method are approximately 0.
I say this because the developers of these methods do it as a hobby and share with their community.
So please, before you spend money on something you can do easily and for free, do a quick Google search.
tags: iphone android HTC apple samsung LG Galaxy EVO Epic Touch root jailbreak repair t-mobile verizon sprint att at&t 4g 3g tablet iPad Xoom"
I'm working on getting a laptop so that I can host "Free ROOTing events" at local coffee shops.
If you're with me I implore you to do the same. If there's a good reason why I shouldn't have done this, please let me know what I'm missing.
The people doing this aren't selling drugs or snatching purses. Is there really something wrong with perusing a legal source of income?
Also, the more people out there with rooted devices the better.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
Some people are scared to and would rather let someone else do it as they're scared they'll go wrong, I would say it's okay if they state somewhere it can be done yourself for free
Do you also have a problem with car wahing services? I mean you can do it yourself for free but some people still pay to have it done. Or what about home renovations? Why pay when you can Do it yourself? If a person can google for Unlock/root phone and find the person charging for it surely they must have passed over hundreds of DIY instructions in the process.
hungry81 said:
Do you also have a problem with car wahing services? I mean you can do it yourself for free but some people still pay to have it done. Or what about home renovations? Why pay when you can Do it yourself?
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Lol great post. Add surgery, dental work and hair cuts to the list
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
jordanishere said:
Lol great post. Add surgery, dental work and hair cuts to the list
Sent from my SGH-T989 using XDA App
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I hope your kidding.
i think the op is right. theyre profiting off of someone elses work that is being used for profit UNKNOWINGLY
I don't mind them. I mean the people using these services are to stupid to do it themselves anyway, so they chose to pay. I repair computers, and have ads up, and usually you can do all of it yourself. I mean it's not that hard to do a fresh install of Windows.
jaszek said:
I don't mind them. I mean the people using these services are to stupid to do it themselves anyway, so they chose to pay. I repair computers, and have ads up, and usually you can do all of it yourself. I mean it's not that hard to do a fresh install of Windows.
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But exploits have to be found, hours, if not days of work put into a root method for just ONE phone. That's not like just reinstalling windows, any schlep can do that.
-My life is a shooting range, people never change-
watt9493 said:
But exploits have to be found, hours, if not days of work put into a root method for just ONE phone. That's not like just reinstalling windows, any schlep can do that.
-My life is a shooting range, people never change-
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BUt what we are talking about here is that it's ready to be done. Anyone can do it themselves with an internet connection. But they chose not to.
Thats the beauty of capitalism, if someone's willing to pay for a service, someone is willing to work and get paid to do that service.
Jordan is right, its the same as washing a car or installing windows. Plus we don't need more noob threads about how they botched the rooting process and bashing the devs because they didn't read the directions. Better to have someone who knows what their doing and get the job done right.
phatmanxxl said:
Thats the beauty of capitalism, if someone's willing to pay for a service, someone is willing to work and get paid to do that service.
Jordan is right, its the same as washing a car or installing windows. Plus we don't need more noob threads about how they botched the rooting process and bashing the devs because they didn't read the directions. Better to have someone who knows what their doing and get the job done right.
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Which is why if a customer first tries to fix something himself, and THEN calls me, I charge them more if they messed something up.
It's not a scam.... It's a service....
Scam = people paying money to jailbreak a phone for you that doesn't actually jailbreak the phone....
Service = people don't know how or are afraid to jailbreak their phone in fear of bricking their device, or that don't have the expertise to do it themselves.
Personal recomdation, if you use craigslist find someone local, don't send off your phone.

De-Google-ing my Note 9

Hi guys. I'm starting this thread in hopes of sparking a conversation and a concerted effort to rid ourselves as users from the clutches of Google and other big tech companies. I am sick and tired of Google tracking me and attempting to force feed me ads on a daily send constant basis. Then selling my info to other companies such as Facebook. So, I have started down the path of decluttering (De-Google-ing) my device(s). I am primarily interested in securing my device as much as possible and protecting my privacy.
So far, I have reformatted my entire device to factory default settings installed and using F-Droid (FOSS) for all my apps. I use Yandex as my search engine (I am often to suggestions and recommendations) in the "private browser" app. I use Aurora instead of Google Play store, New Pipe for YouTube-ing, Frost for Facebookingand SlimSocial for Twitter. I have stopped using Google keyboard and any other Google apps. I have abandoned gmail and replaced it with proton mail instead. So far, no ads and as far as I can tell, no tracking. I have also installed a VPN and am using it religiously—Cyber Ghost, a $99 for 3 years subscription with support up to 8 devices.
However, I am still very much connected to Samsung for I am not privy as to whether or not Samsung is as sinister as Google and Facebook.
Again, I am open to all suggestions, corrections and recommendations. Thank you and I hope to engage with you all.
leave it up to them yandex russians to protect your privacy.
but seriously. the most dangerous thing you can do is acctualy think that the steps you take are really making your life private.
vpns just channel the traffic to an other end point and does the queries for you then sends the data encrypted to you.
the queries are still made on the www. account info and all things you store or access online is still accessible by the www. vpn companies just fool you into thinking that the data being relayed to you is the only weak link. plus the free ones mine your data.
best thing you can do is not use social media. its made to invade your privacy. its designed to fool you into giving as much of your personal life info as possible and sell your habits to add companies so they can in turn send you quatered adds.
the minute you use the internet you void your privacy regardless of how you think the measures you take are working or effective. and what are you going to do about the 100 and 1000's of companies being hacked and their data mined and sold every month? you cant do anything about that. plus its much better for hackers to get their info from a big company because you get much more than just 1 dude that does his banking online and chat every now and then.there is no money to be made from 1 individual.
if you think people are specifically after you, you are gravely being fooled by the vpn ad campaigns that have been poping up everywhere about "privacy".( they must hide the fact that they also get hacked very well.its just that the media hasint picked up on it yet)
anyways who want to waste time on an end user/device?
when again you just need to hack equifax like a few years back and you get the motherload instead.
all in all I've abandoned the thought of real privacy. its futile.( even abstinents dosen't work because companies and governments don't secure customer data correctly. and unfortunately if you are born, you must be branded and labeled and filed away.)
live your life. just know that what ever you do you can't escape big brother and your data from being leaked by the big companies that say that it is secured with them.
the whole infrastructure relies on them companies and the habits we have been embraining ourselves and our children with is the problem.. we live our lives intertwined with the services and devices that we take for granted and have clicked next next next through polices and consent forms for over 25 years now whithout even giving it a second though. we're in over our heads now and it is a little late to back out. this was al dine by design and all voluntarily. its crazy how marketing is evil.
a cabin in the woods is the easiest and most secure thing one can do. anything shy of that is a waste of time and a false feeling of privacy.
anyways I'm going around in circles now.
one thing for sure is that the criminals we think that we need cover from are not who we think they are.
they are the FCC dealing with big telcos, they are the big media giants spewing false information and fabricates facts. they are in our governments in the highest ranks pushing hidden agendas and most of all they are the big social media platforms remodeling our society each day under our noses at our expense.
but hey this is not new. the internet police is just tring to make you think it is and spend 9.99$ a month for a vpn lol
good luck.
I just stopped using as many Google apps as I can and switched over to MS Office apps and use Samsung services where I can too...
bober10113 said:
leave it up to them yandex russians to protect your privacy.
but seriously. the most dangerous thing you can do is acctualy think that the steps you take are really making your life private.
vpns just channel the traffic to an other end point and does the queries for you then sends the data encrypted to you.
the queries are still made on the www. account info and all things you store or access online is still accessible by the www. vpn companies just fool you into thinking that the data being relayed to you is the only weak link. plus the free ones mine your data.
best thing you can do is not use social media. its made to invade your privacy. its designed to fool you into giving as much of your personal life info as possible and sell your habits to add companies so they can in turn send you quatered adds.
the minute you use the internet you void your privacy regardless of how you think the measures you take are working or effective. and what are you going to do about the 100 and 1000's of companies being hacked and their data mined and sold every month? you cant do anything about that. plus its much better for hackers to get their info from a big company because you get much more than just 1 dude that does his banking online and chat every now and then.there is no money to be made from 1 individual.
if you think people are specifically after you, you are gravely being fooled by the vpn ad campaigns that have been poping up everywhere about "privacy".( they must hide the fact that they also get hacked very well.its just that the media hasint picked up on it yet)
anyways who want to waste time on an end user/device?
when again you just need to hack equifax like a few years back and you get the motherload instead.
all in all I've abandoned the thought of real privacy. its futile.( even abstinents dosen't work because companies and governments don't secure customer data correctly. and unfortunately if you are born, you must be branded and labeled and filed away.)
live your life. just know that what ever you do you can't escape big brother and your data from being leaked by the big companies that say that it is secured with them.
the whole infrascturuce relies on them companies and the habits we have been embraining ourselves and our children with is the problem.. we live our lives intertwined with the services and devices that we take for granted and have clicked next next next through polices and consent forms for over 25 years now whithout even giving it a second though. we're in over our heads now and it is a little late to back out. this was al dine by design and all voluntarily. its crazy how marketing is evil.
a cabin in the woods is the easiest and most secure thing one can do. anything shy of that is a waste of time and a false feeling of privacy.
anyways I'm going around in circles now.
one thing for sure is that the criminals we think that we need cover from are not who we think they are.
they are the FCC dealing with big telcos, they are the big media giants spewing false information and fabricates facts. they are in our governments in the highest ranks pushing hidden agendas and most of all they are the big social media platforms remodeling our society each day under our noses at our expense.
but hey this is not new. the internet police is just tring to make you think it is and spend 9.99$ a month for a vpn lol
good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oy vey! Thank you very much for yor contribution. It is very much appreciated and I see what you are saying.
AndroidUser00110001 said:
I just stopped using as many Google apps as I can and switched over to MS Office apps and use Samsung services where I can too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How has this been working out for you? What are your thoughts on Samsung's and Microsoft privacy policies etc?
Nonetheless, what are some good and viable alternatives to Google and optimally "securing" one's device (taking everything bober10113 has said).
michel5891 said:
How has this been working out for you? What are your thoughts on Samsung's and Microsoft privacy policies etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like the other poster said, I gave up on worrying about privacy. I made the switch for other reasons and privacy was down on the list...
I just do not like what Goolge has been doing lately, especially blocking ad blockers soon in Chrome so I switched to MS Edge on Android and the Chromium version of Edge for desktop and the rest of the apps just followed through. I am seeing how the switch works for myself and if all goes well I will switch back to MS for the small company I work for.
I gave up on Gmail, Google Drive and all their office apps so far and I stopped using Nexus/Pixel phones for the first time in 10 years. I started with the S9+ which I enjoyed for a couple of months and then got a Note9 during a holiday special and now I cannot wait for the Note10.
Privacy is what it is nowadays... We should all own our data and if we choose to let be used as companies are doing now then we should get a slice of all the money being made but I doubt it will ever get to be something like that.
michel5891 said:
How has this been working out for you? What are your thoughts on Samsung's and Microsoft privacy policies etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't think that they are any better than Google's. Majority of the companies out there that are international had to adhere to the EU rules of privacy, so a lot of them have adopted those standards. NOT ALL OF THEM. That's why all of a sudden you are getting new agreements from all the major companies that touch each section of land on the world.
I still don't trust any of them even to that point.
This is morbid. I have been thinking a lot more about death, debt, privacy and such, and I have come to the conclusion that I honestly don't care about my own anymore because it has been stolen, including my wife's. Future children though, I worry about them because you don't even have to mention their name on the internet and somehow every major company knows about them.
Ever had a conversation with someone without actually looking something up on the web, and then a day or two later Google and other ads start showing things concerning what you were talking about to someone in person? Yeah, it has happened to me numerous times now I can't even count anymore.
Jammol said:
Ever had a conversation with someone without actually looking something up on the web, and then a day or two later Google and other ads start showing things concerning what you were talking about to someone in person? Yeah, it has happened to me numerous times now I can't even count anymore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES!!! I noticed this a few months ago. My wife and I were talking about some random subject and BAM there it was in my Google discovery feed.
I mentioned that to her and she thought I was crazy until it happened again.
My friend was over last week, he mentioned something about a car he is fixing up and once again in my Google feed...
*EDIT*
I am not going to go as far as saying they are listening because my wife did say she looked up what we were talking about later on that day on her phone so I am guessing it is more GPS based then Google listening to give them the benefit of doubt for now. I need to ask my friend if he searched anything while here...
You want to De-Google your phone? Sell it and don't get an Android phone. Don't get an iPhone, either. In fact, get one of those huge car phones from the 80s. I can't add really anything that hasn't been said, other than some slight humor, but again, if you want privacy, stay off the internet.
AndroidUser00110001 said:
YES!!! I noticed this a few months ago. My wife and I were talking about some random subject and BAM there it was in my Google discovery feed.
I mentioned that to her and she thought I was crazy until it happened again.
My friend was over last week, he mentioned something about a car he is fixing up and once again in my Google feed...
*EDIT*
I am not going to go as far as saying they are listening because my wife did say she looked up what we were talking about later on that day on her phone so I am guessing it is more GPS based then Google listening to give them the benefit of doubt for now. I need to ask my friend if he searched anything while here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is what I'm trying to prevent. Exactly the same thing had happened to me. We were simply discussing an AC unit; never looked it up or mentioned the name of it and the exact make and model in the room we were in showed up.
michel5891 said:
This is what I'm trying to prevent. Exactly the same thing had happened to me. We were simply discussing an AC unit; never looked it up or mentioned the name of it and the exact make and model in the room we were in showed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah it's super duper creepy. Funny thing is since I refreshed my Note 9 up to PIE, I haven't given assistant or google search any permission to use my microphone and I don't even have them setup!
this might help:
https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/6030020?co=GENIE.Platform=Android&hl=en
turn voice activity off. also check your history to see if it has any recording...

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