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Google Remotely Changed the Settings on a Bunch of Phones Running Android 9 Pie (theverge.com)
Last week, a mix of people who own Google Pixel phones and other devices running Android 9 Pie noticed that the software's Battery Saver feature had been switched on -- seemingly all by itself. And oddly, this was happening when the phones were near a full charge, not when the battery was low. From a report: Initially it was assumed that this was some kind of minor bug in the latest version of Android, which was only released a few weeks ago. Some users thought they might've just enabled Battery Saver without realizing. But it was actually Google at fault. The company posted a message on Reddit last night acknowledging "an internal experiment to test battery saving features that was mistakenly rolled out to more users than intended." So Google had remotely -- and accidentally -- changed a phone setting for a bunch of real-world customers. Several staffers at The Verge experienced the issue. "We have now rolled battery saver settings back to default. Please configure to your liking," the Pixel team wrote on Reddit before apologizing for the error.
are belong to us.
In other news, Android users are mysteriously finding their Location Services and Google history settings turned to the 'on' position, even if they had previously manually turned them off. /s
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
If I have the keys to the entire apartment complex! No seriously, there was a light on in your bedroom. I HAD to come in and turn that off.
The word news starts with "new" for a reason.
Maybe the slogan should change to Olds for nerds
If they can do that, it doesn't seem too far fetched that they could also turn on the phone's cameras and microphones at will.
Knowledge is power; knowledge shared is power lost.
Isn't is awesome how Google has complete control over your "property"?
Sorry if you were not in a hurricane and did not need this, you insensitive clods.
Google, please sack all employees who
use twitter and reddit, and not GPlus.
https://plus.google.com/104629...
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Is there any information on how the settings change was made?
Obviously, OS updates could change settings(sometimes by legitimate necessity since an OS update can add new settings that need a default of some kind, remove features that used to have settings but no longer need them; or modify a feature enough that there isn't a clear answer for what 'preserving' the old setting would mean); so if it was done by pushing out an OS update with the wrong settings that would be sloppy but not fundamentally sinister.
If, however, Google has sent MDM-like remote control(probably in Google Play Services somewhere), and they used that to toggle the setting things get rather less innocent.
This is the problem with auto updates. Not even one notification that something is being updated or changed. At the very least the end owner of said device should at least be notified what was updated. Without having to sift through blogs or forums to find answers.
Enuf said.
Nice. Thanks for leaving such a fucking gaping hole in our phones that you are able to do such a thing.
And to think, all those crypto guys worried about broken-by-design crypto. You don't even fucking need that with this setup!
(You have to be superuser privs to change those settings, google has this remotely. You're fucked)
You notice that Google and Android phone manufacturers have never been taken to court for law enforcement officials to get access to the data on the phones.
You pay to own a device, but in reality you're only a renter.
Apple, Google, Samsung, it matters not. They all think they retain control over your device.
A device that should be 100% under my control, since I paid for it.
Fuck them all.
...and I just HAPPENED to look in settings and noticed that my battery icon in the status bar was indicating battery saver?! I had just finished charging it a bit before. So, I go to check battery and notice battery saver, turn on at 99%?! WTF?! I HAD HAD it set to turn on at 15%!
So, I just reset it back to 15% and didn't think much of it at the time other than maybe it had happened w/the September update and I just didn't notice UNTIL I saw these stories popping up. I also seem to recall some similar thread on the essential subreddit as well... but not specifically that Google had changed it, but like me speculating the Sept update...
Also had the fscked up swiping, although in my case I just cleared storage and cache at which point it was back to 'normal'...
Google writes the OS for the phones that drives all the hardware. I think this one is blown out of proportion. Yes, I would rather not have them change settings like this, it was a mistake, they admitted and that is more important. Apple, Samsung and Microsoft have same capability on their front, even Tesla can do the same for their cars.
If you really want to stop this, install one of many open source initiative in the Android world and take control of your device, maybe pursue your elected official to regulate such updates. In the mean time, they have the capability to do whatever they want remotely, welcome to 2018.
I have automatic updating turned off (all of it, Apps & OS). I have manual updating set for Wifi only.
Explain to me then why over the last year I have caught Instant Apps updating on 4G LTE at least 3 times. Those are the times I was looking at my phone and found it was doing this. I managed to catch a screenshot a couple times. How many more times is Google forcing updates which I have explicitly opted out of?
This happened to me. I've never used battery saver; when the power icon changed, I had to look it up.
It was in close proximity with the 9-Pie upgrade. First unsettling bit was that I assumed it was a new setting, e.g. that power saver had more granular options, and my previous selection was mapped to this. This has happened with other things before; after all, when behavior changes, it changes, right?
Second was how quickly I forgot. Not only did I forget something seemed odd, but I forgot when they fixed it. I liken it to when I get a new phone; I try to arrange icons like I had them. I can tell something is different, but not exactly what. I eventually become used to the 'new' way.
This scares me, personally, because of how quickly I adapt to this. I just absorb the change, and don't really think I should dig further, investigate, change my own behavior. If I don't address it in the first 30 minutes or so, I just shrug my shoulders - whether I'm aware of this or not. The implications for this kind of stuff are kind of scary. I'm shocked at myself; I consider 'me' to be a little more aware.
The story indicated they rolled everyone back to the default.
What about people who had actually turned on power saver themselves, did they have to go back and turn it on again?
It seems like flipping it either direction without the user knowing is bad.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
They're sneaking into your house at night when you're asleep and going through your underwear drawer, touching each and every one, and making little notes about them.
That's about how creeped out you should be if you own an Android phone -- or ANY smartphone.
You were warned, more than once, and you ignored it. Now you see the consequences of your lack of action: you bought and paid for a phone, but it's not YOURS, never was, never will be. Google will go through your underwear drawer whenver they feel like it, and there is nothing you can do to stop them -- other than get rid of your smartphone.
Someone ran an update query with the where clause missing. And they fixed it by running another update query.
This is why you have History tables so you can fix mistakes by going back to the last setting not the default setting.
Given Google's open plan offices and high noise level its only natural that its difficult to concentrate and this kind of stuff happens.
You should trust your data to Microsoft. They have offices for everyone
**Life is too short to be serious**
think that Microsoft is the bad guy.
...
I had to think it through before reluctantly leaving Location Services on. I use traffic on Google Maps all the time. The only way Maps can show which roads are backed up is by the location data sent from phones of people sitting in traffic. So if it weren't for people having it on, there'd be no way to see the current amount of traffic via Google Maps. If I turned it off, I'd essentially be like a leecher for a torrent. Or someone who expects to receive blood from the hospital when injured, but never donates blood. So after much consideration, I turned Location Services on.
My Google history is turned off. You should at least be glad Google allows you to turn these off if you like. Unlike Amazon, Facebook, and Apple which collect this data regardless of your wishes.