ubuntu-phone team mailing list archive

[Octavian Damiean <odamiean@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 4:06 AM, Daniel Clem <clem11388@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Would like to reinforce the notion of keeping big brother from abusing
> this kind of thing. Very very serious caution should be taken on this
> point. I feel that a special password ( not users or root) should be
> required to give them access in this way. So that in other normal times
> they would have no access what so ever. Not even simple GPS or network
> traffic. Nothing.
>
> Also I am completely against making signing up to Cloud services
> mandatory! It would be fine to explain the benefits during setup. And
> encourage the less tech savy person to sign up to protect them from data
> losses. But I am always keep backups of files on my own, and solely use the
> cloud for convenience of file transfer or keeping certain things in sync. I
> DO NOT want my whole life in the cloud.
>
> I will not go into the political reasons why I take this firm stance as
> that's not the purpose of this list. But simply say that there are not
> nearly enough benefits to out way the big brother risks of abuse.
>
> If indepth discussion is desired on this point. I suggest there be a
> special IRC appointment or forum thread so to not clog up this list.
>
> God Bless,
> Dan
>
> "Bill R. WASHBURN" <dygituljunky@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> Device-level remote location and remote wipe should be built in to the
>> platform for theft prevention and higher stolen phone recovery rates. Apple
>> has this almost right but signing up for the iCloud security features is
>> still optional. Finding and recovering stolen devices is far, far, far
>> easier with iCloud enabled. Make this part of the process of activating the
>> device.
>>
>> Allow, through the device recovery on the user's cloud account, remote
>> activation of the GPS, remote triggering of the find-me alarm, remote audio
>> pickup, and automatic uploading of new pictures. Consult with law
>> enforcement during development to include other useful information.
>>
>> Include the ability for the user to allow law enforcement access to these
>> features without providing the primary account password to law enforcement.
>> Include security features to prevent this feature from being abused by
>> oppressive governments. Design this system so that user consent and
>> knowledge is required before the feature can be activated from the cloud.
>>
>> Register devices by a unique serial number. Devices reported stolen
>> should be prevented from being activated.
>>
>> All of this should be done in a way to prevent big brother from abusing
>> the user yet should allow big brother to help little brother when someone
>> steals the device from little brother.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Bill R. WASHBURN
>>
>> --
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>> Post to     : ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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>>
>>
> --
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone
> Post to     : ubuntu-phone@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-phone
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>
>
I completely agree with this. While the reason for this idea is valid I
don't like the thought of having a backdoor built-in which allows someone
to remotely manipulate my phone or even read my location. If Apple thinks
that this is good then that's on them but I think we should leave that up
to the user to decide.

Given how open Ubuntu Touch is for everyone I'm sure there will be people
which want such backed-in features that will create a spin-off just for
that. I for one don't want stuff like that backed in.

Cheers,
Octavian