Android: device-lock-controller, a hidden app for creditors.

[SpookyZalost]

So I think this one flew under the radar back in november of 2020 here so I'm going to start a topic discussing it.

Ther's an app on android phones.  It was accidentally released in november of 2020 but is now pretty standard.  And what's worse.  It's hidden and not easily removed if you aren't able to go digging around in the phone's directories with android SDK.

The name of this hidden app?  Device-lock-controller.  It is effectively a way to monitor how you use your android phone and actually deactivate your most used apps to aid your creditors when you're in debt and have missed payments for things.
Having just gone through a period where I was laid off and out of work for a few months I just started to dip into this situation myself but managed to pull myself out despite post covid job scarcity in the tech market.

The App was tested in Kenya a few years ago and automatically loaded on phones bought using loans for people who could not otherwise afford them.  However in November 2020 it was "accidentally" put up on the google play store then taken down not long after when people noticed it.  (Google's Device Lock Controller is a hidden app - Android Authority)

Most recently however apps like this one have been getting loaded on the latest google pixel and likely other high end smartphones here in the states.  (Google Allows Creditors to Brick Your Phone - Lemmy.World)  What's worse is that creditors can use apps like this one to brick your phone bit by bit until you pay up.  Now normally I'm pro android anti-apple but right now I'm kinda wishing there was a third option.

Enter Lineage OS. (LineageOS – LineageOS Android Distribution)  For those that don't know Lineage OS is android without the google apps.  It's Free as in Freedom.  But it doesn't work fully on everything yet.  However those devices with the scummy app that lets creditors brick devices remotely?  most of them are actually compatible with it provided you know how to flash a custom firmware on your device.  (not as hard as ya think!)

Unfortunately, it seems like a trend as shackle apps like Device-lock-controller are being put on more than just smartphones and tablets.  Tesla is doing this on their electric cars!   (Man Says Tesla 'Locked Him Out' of Car Until He Pays for $26K Battery (newsweek.com))

Other companies are hiding features that physically exist behind subscription paywalls. (BMW now has subscriptions for in-car features, but it's not as bad as you think - The Manual)  And it's only going to get worse.

Right to repair is liberating our right to fix our own stuff.  But we may need more broad strokes legislation soon to liberate our right to actually own our devices.

Something to think about.  -Z

[Kyng]

Yeah, that does sound pretty worrying . Fortunately, I'm not likely to be in that kind of financial trouble any time soon, but nevertheless, it's well worth knowing about!

I have a lower-end Android phone that I got in December 2021 - so, is it likely to have this thing? (I can't find it, but like you said: if it's there, it's probably hidden !)

[~ True Legend ~]

Yeah, that does sound pretty worrying . Fortunately, I'm not likely to be in that kind of financial trouble any time soon, but nevertheless, it's well worth knowing about!

I have a lower-end Android phone that I got in December 2021 - so, is it likely to have this thing? (I can't find it, but like you said: if it's there, it's probably hidden !)

If you carefully re-read the post, it’s a hidden app

[Kyng]

Yeah, that does sound pretty worrying . Fortunately, I'm not likely to be in that kind of financial trouble any time soon, but nevertheless, it's well worth knowing about!

I have a lower-end Android phone that I got in December 2021 - so, is it likely to have this thing? (I can't find it, but like you said: if it's there, it's probably hidden !)

If you carefully re-read the post, it’s a hidden app

Well, I saw that - but what I want to know is whether or not my phone is likely to have it.

Right now, I have no way of knowing whether it's hidden or absent !

[SpookyZalost]

Yeah, that does sound pretty worrying . Fortunately, I'm not likely to be in that kind of financial trouble any time soon, but nevertheless, it's well worth knowing about!

I have a lower-end Android phone that I got in December 2021 - so, is it likely to have this thing? (I can't find it, but like you said: if it's there, it's probably hidden !)

If you carefully re-read the post, it’s a hidden app

Well, I saw that - but what I want to know is whether or not my phone is likely to have it.

Right now, I have no way of knowing whether it's hidden or absent !

Well there are a couple ways of checking.  If you know how you can go into the android admin settings and see what has admin privileges.  but I get the feeling it might be hidden there too.  So what I would reccomend is to unlock debug/developer mode on your phone, turn on USB debugging, connect it to your computer.  and use the android SDK to remote into it and run Grep | device-lock-controller or just Grep | Device*  to see what it brings up.  It should show up in the list if you do that.

Just a bit of Linux technical wizardry given android is a derivative of it.  And this is pretty much all the setup you'd need if you decided to go with running Lineage-OS, only other step is to enable custom kernels and run it in factory service mode.  but you shouldn't need to go that far for searching for a hidden program.  (experience:  This is how I check for any potentially unwanted Programs on my phone and purge them once I've verified what they are.)

Plus if you've gotten to that level you can fairly easily purge it by putting the phone into factory mode and removing the program while the phone is effectively in safemode.  It's even possible to then edit the update list to block programs with that name from reinstalling.  But that's some higher level stuff given it involves doing stuff to the kernel.