I used to be reluctant to modify my smartphone because I wanted to keep it "fresh" and as close to "out of the box" as possible. Little did I know, I submitted to digital dictatorship by smartphone vendors and Google. You only truly own a smartphone if you have bootloader and root access. Root access gives you general-purpose computing privileges on the device you paid for.
Perhaps this sounds obvious and self-evident to some, perhaps I am preaching to the choir for some, but I am posting this for anyone who has not realized it yet.
Originally this was intended to become a post about my opinion on the "dirty COW" feature (not bug).
Many of us have old non-rooted smartphones laying around with no possibility to get access to the data trapped inside (data lock-in).
Well, thanks to "Dirty COW", us users can get access to parts of the operating system that Google would prefer us not see.
Over the years, Google has increasingly babysitted us users by locking us out of parts of our operating system to "protect us" from ourselves. Google has been waging war against general-purpose computing. (Well, at this point, Microsoft started doing so too, see Jody Bruchon.)
While "Dirty COW" won't work on recent phones and only works on older versions of Android, it still is a blessing for people who happen to own older Android phones with user data trapped inside. Data that is normally inaccessible because Google wanted it so.
Now, why would some smartphones not have been rooted by users in the first place, given all the benefits? Mainly laziness or lack of awareness that rooting is a possibility, or lack of the knowledge necessary for it, or the desire to keep the smartphone as close to its "fresh" unmodified state as possible.
I have to admit that I am guilty of the last one. I wanted to keep my smartphone as fresh as possible, not realizing that I am submitting to the virtual dictatorship of the smartphone vendors. And now, its non-replaceable battery has inflated and pushed out the back cover regardless, so the phone is not in a fresh state anyway.
Realize that the data on your phone matters more than the phone itself. You buy your phone to create certain data (e.g. pictures, videos, documents). Smartphones can be replaced. A new smartphone can be bought from the store. But if you lose your data, you can not simply buy it back.
You bought your smartphone to get work done, not to stare at it. (This is why I also value function over form, and I despite when manufacturers sacrifice battery capacity for useless "slim premium design".)
"Dirty COW" is a blessing. Cherish it.
I hereby release this text under the Creative Commons 4.0 ShareAlike International license.
Perhaps this sounds obvious and self-evident to some, perhaps I am preaching to the choir for some, but I am posting this for anyone who has not realized it yet.
Originally this was intended to become a post about my opinion on the "dirty COW" feature (not bug).
"Dirty COW" is a feature, not a bug.
Many of us have old non-rooted smartphones laying around with no possibility to get access to the data trapped inside (data lock-in).
Well, thanks to "Dirty COW", us users can get access to parts of the operating system that Google would prefer us not see.
Over the years, Google has increasingly babysitted us users by locking us out of parts of our operating system to "protect us" from ourselves. Google has been waging war against general-purpose computing. (Well, at this point, Microsoft started doing so too, see Jody Bruchon.)
While "Dirty COW" won't work on recent phones and only works on older versions of Android, it still is a blessing for people who happen to own older Android phones with user data trapped inside. Data that is normally inaccessible because Google wanted it so.
Now, why would some smartphones not have been rooted by users in the first place, given all the benefits? Mainly laziness or lack of awareness that rooting is a possibility, or lack of the knowledge necessary for it, or the desire to keep the smartphone as close to its "fresh" unmodified state as possible.
I have to admit that I am guilty of the last one. I wanted to keep my smartphone as fresh as possible, not realizing that I am submitting to the virtual dictatorship of the smartphone vendors. And now, its non-replaceable battery has inflated and pushed out the back cover regardless, so the phone is not in a fresh state anyway.
Realize that the data on your phone matters more than the phone itself. You buy your phone to create certain data (e.g. pictures, videos, documents). Smartphones can be replaced. A new smartphone can be bought from the store. But if you lose your data, you can not simply buy it back.
You bought your smartphone to get work done, not to stare at it. (This is why I also value function over form, and I despite when manufacturers sacrifice battery capacity for useless "slim premium design".)
"Dirty COW" is a blessing. Cherish it.
I hereby release this text under the Creative Commons 4.0 ShareAlike International license.
