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Android Q Will Include More Ways For Carriers To SIM Lock Your Phone (9to5google.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the it's-not-all-rainbows-and-butterflies dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Google: Over the weekend, four commits were posted to various parts of Android's Gerrit source code management, all entitled "Carrier restriction enhancements for Android Q." In them, we see that network carriers will have more fine-grained control over which networks devices will and will not work on. More specifically, it will be possible to designate a list of "allowed" and "excluded" carriers, essentially a whitelist and a blacklist of what will and won't work on a particular phone. This can be done with a fine-grained detail to even allow blocking virtual carrier networks that run on the same towers as your main carrier.

Restriction changes are also on the way for dual-SIM devices. At the moment, carriers can set individual restrictions for each SIM slot, but with Android Q, carriers will be able to lock out the second slot unless there's an approved SIM card in the first slot. This SIM lock restriction is applied immediately and will persist through restarting the phone, and even doing a factory reset. Thankfully, in both cases, emergency phone calls will still work as expected, regardless of any restrictions on the particular SIM cards in your phone.

10 of 262 comments (clear)

  1. Property is dead by sg_oneill · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Somewhere in the heart of Android, theres a Linux kernel, still under the GPL, bleeding out for the loss of all it was supposed represent.

    "Property" is now "Rent".

    --
    Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    1. Re:Property is dead by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Which doesn't help if the vast majority of stores in which you can see and touch a phone before buying it sell only locked phones.

      So do what everyone else does. Go into the store that sells locked phones, try them out, then buy an unlocked phone on the internet. Make sure you tell the salesdroid that you're not going to buy a phone in his shop because they don't sell unlocked phones, on your way out.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Property is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      One law, and that goes away. One decision by Google(aka state front company) and that goes away. Your phone is a spying device that is owned by the government. The telecoms are state-front companies, same as Google. The nut Stallman was warning of this for decades. Enjoy you freedom while it lasts.

    3. Re:Property is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      The SIM can do almost anything to your phone. It's a complete computer with CPU, memory, OS, etc., and it talks to the "modem", which has access to the phone on a very low level. The network can also tell your "modem" to do some scary stuff to your phone. Smartphones are not secure devices.

    4. Re:Property is dead by jimbo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I have the same experience. I guess the Americans don't have as much freedom as other countries, except for large corporations.

  2. Good Idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In a boardroom somewhere in Businessland, a flock of executards converse:

    Smartphone sales have been down for four straight quarters. What can we do to make people want to buy them even less?

  3. Re:Not going to happen by Cederic · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Yeah, this is only an issue for people living in countries that vote against government regulation of big businesses.

    It's almost as though they fail to understand that the government is formalised representation of people and their wishes and a necessary control against well resourced organisations that could otherwise abuse and exploit ordinary people.

  4. Better solution? by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I love how they were able to auction off thin air.

    You have a better solution to the tragedy of the commons?

  5. Re:Not going to happen by InfiniteBlaze · · Score: 4, Insightful

    People only vote that way because corporations are given a platform. Stupid fucking Citizens United bullshit.

  6. Not a solution by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Yeah, UWB. Too bad if you start using UWB, you have to stop using all other kinds of radio, though.

    So A) it's not a solution because it's potentially incompatible and B) it's not a solution because wireless spectrum remains a finite public good no matter how you utilize the spectrum. UWB might make the limited spectrum go further but it doesn't solve the core problem of interference due to unregulated overuse.