Samsung Galaxy & S II are spying on you, for North Korea!!

[chupadacabra]

Samsung Galaxy & S II are spying on you for South Korea!
(supposed to be South Korea)

According to a South Korean newspaper (Donga) the Samsung phones have not less than 3 apps which spy on everything you do.

Software similar to Carrier IQ of the U.S., which secretively gathers personal information in mobile phones including call records, text messages and location data, has been discovered in Samsung Galaxy smartphones as well.
..
Three applications and Program Monitor, which are basic programs of the Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy S II, have been found to play functions similar to those of Carrier IQ. Samsung has sold more than 10 million units of these two smartphone models in Korea alone.
..
Mirror App in the Galaxy S is a simple application that displays the user`s face via a built-in camera. The app, however, was found to have been designed to allow access to more than 40 functions of the smartphone including phone number lists, calendar information, location data, SMS messages, photos and recorded content stored in the mobile device.

This means that with intent, a producer can freely delete phone numbers or modify location data, view SMS messages, and listen to recorded content. The company can also use such information for marketing. Designed to allow the user to view his or her face, the app is thus effectively granted the capacity to allow the phone maker to freely control data in the device.

Original source: donga.com[English donga] and donga.com[English donga]

Well that sucks for everyone who cherish their privacy.
What about Cyanogenmod, does it too have official spyware? I don't mean the Google Apps package, which is obvious.

[avatar_43]

Cyanogenmod will never allow crap like this, I'm glad I live in the UK whilst all this explodes. I feel sorry for those that can be or have been effected.

[chupadacabra]

So you think Zion-o-gen is safe, huh?
The only reason i'm not installing it is because there's no Galaxy S2 Official GUI..
Otherwise i'm cool with the zion pun cause imma jew

[avatar_43]

CyanogenMod will never have Carrier IQ | CyanogenMod

No... I know it's safe, Why would the teams that work on it need to spy on it's users?
and as for the Samsung touchwiz... I feel they make great phones then vomit on them with bloatware much like HTC with Sense, Give me AOSP Android and I'm laughing

[chupadacabra]

CyanogenMod will never have Carrier IQ | CyanogenMod

No... I know it's safe, Why would the teams that work on it need to spy on it's users?
and as for the Samsung touchwiz... I feel they make great phones then vomit on them with bloatware much like HTC with Sense, Give me AOSP Android and I'm laughing

To answer your question; Why would the teams that work on it need to spy on it's users?
Because personal user data means money. It's collected so it can be sold to advertisers or producers.

Let's just hope CM crew is as idealist as they portray themselves

[dlamber7]

To answer your question; Why would the teams that work on it need to spy on it's users?
Because personal user data means money. It's collected so it can be sold to advertisers or producers.

Let's just hope CM crew is as idealist as they portray themselves

Well, CM is completely open source. Meaning, everything that goes into their roms is available for viewing on github. If you doubt anything, scour the code and see if you find what you are looking for. But with 60+ devs on the CM team, and millions of users with a few hundred more devs that see the code, there's no chance they could get away with spyware.

[chupadacabra]

Well, CM is completely open source. Meaning, everything that goes into their roms is available for viewing on github. If you doubt anything, scour the code and see if you find what you are looking for. But with 60+ devs on the CM team, and millions of users with a few hundred more devs that see the code, there's no chance they could get away with spyware.

Well that's great but they still could make a 'mistake' with the binaries like Samsung; oopsy o no we hasnt collect personal data simpel programmer mistake soree bicboi Seriously though, i'm sure you're right. I've read too many detective books

[dlamber7]

The proprietary overlays are closed source (ie, touchwiz, sense, blur). So it's easy to understand the manufacturers getting away with it for quite some time.

[Skv012a]

So, can we can an actual list of the said apps? Thats what my root uninstaller is for, just gotta know what to delete

[dlamber7]

Well, theoretically, anything on the phone from stock that is not needed (bloatware) can potentially be used to track things from the carriers. Then, there are also those things that can be used to track what you do and not even be an apk, like Carrier IQ for instance. But that's a whole nother ball game there.

[Skv012a]

Pretty sure I root-deleted most of the bloatware on my S2. Only left things that seems essential, like wifi managers, bt, clock, dialer, etc, plus what i put on there myself.

[chupadacabra]

So, can we can an actual list of the said apps? Thats what my root uninstaller is for, just gotta know what to delete

I'd like a proper list too.
In one of the articles it says "three applications and Program Monitor", so Program/Application Monitor is one. It also says "Mirror App for Galaxy S", that's two. I wonder if by mirror app they mean the camera switch button in camera app, or if it's a stock korean app. I know my stock SGS2 didn't have it in the app list.

So the obvious two are the ones below
1 Program Monitor / Application Monitor
2 Mirror App / Camera app
3 ?
4 ?
?

[Skv012a]

Do we have an alternate monitor/task killer WITH a widget to replace the stock one? Alt. camera is possible as well and there are plenty of good ones.

[dlamber7]

I dont have an sgs2 so im not sure of the list of bloatware on it. Sorry

Sent from my LG-V909 using Tapatalk

[Skv012a]

Well, it sounds like its not even some of the bloatware, if task manager/camera are involved here.