<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><div>On Mar 17, 2012, at 12:18 PM, Charles Shapiro wrote:</div><blockquote type="cite"><div>...<br><br>On -- for example -- the Verizon build of Android which came on my<br>phone, it's not so clear-cut. Verizon's Android build won't let me<br>un-install the several applications (e.g. "NFL Mobile", "Verizon<br>Video", "Verizon Messages", et cetera) which Verizon thinks I should<br>have. That's a gaping security hole, plus being bad, wrong and<br>outrageous. I have no interest in trusting the NFL with any software<br>on my phone, nor do I need Verizon to read all of my email as it<br>passes through their aggregators. Show me where I can remove<br>arbitrary applications from an IOS device ? Perhaps it's possible, I<br>don't know. I DO know that without that capacity, IOS devices are<br>only as secure as Apple is. From the URL I provided, that might not<br>be quite secure enough.<br><br>...<br></div></blockquote></div><div><br></div>You've found the main reason I encourage anyone running an Android device to root their devices and use third party builds of the operating system. I am running on an EVO 4G from Sprint and there were several of these crap-ware type applications installed (and actively running) on my device. Not only did it pose a security risk that such applications were being forcibly kept on my device but by them constantly running in the background I saw significant drain on my battery. Once I rooted my device and loaded a third party build of Android on the device, not only was I able to provide myself with a more up to day version of all software on the device but I was also free to uninstall ANYTHING on the device my heart so desired.<div><br></div><div><blockquote type="cite"><div>Curated software repositories such as Apple's App Store or the Android<br>Market are fine, as long as users can opt out of them if (when) they<br>no longer trust the curators</div></blockquote><br></div><div>As many may remember, there was a young man by the name of Charlie Miller who was recently banned from the app store for disclosing a flaw in said app store. I would say that the banning a well known and respected security researcher would count, in my book, as a reasonable point to, as you would say, "no longer trust the curators".<br><div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div>-- <br>Ted W. < <a href="mailto:Ted@Techmachine.net">Ted@Techmachine.net</a> ><br>Registered GNU/Linux user #413569</div><div><br></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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