this post was submitted on 21 May 2026

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Motorola contains spyware - GrapheneOS censored it (codeberg.org)

submitted 2 days ago by rocksolid@lemmy.ml to c/degoogle@lemmy.ml

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[–] skyline2@lemmy.dbzer0.com 53 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Regardless of whether or not its worthy of discussion, this is heavily AI assisted at least, and GrapheneOS does not allow "walls of verbose text" (which this certainly is...) generated by AI.

https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/11951-ai-generated-text-is-forbidden-with-the-exception-of-automated-translation

Maybe if this person cared enough to follow the forum rules there could be discussion on this topic.

[–] trevor@lemmy.blahaj.zone 24 points 1 day ago

Yeah, a lot of this is undisclosed LLM drivel. Also, the "author" fails to mention or consider that none of the scummy logging/control services would be running in GrapheneOS in the first place. It's irrelevant.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 11 points 1 day ago

I'm curious if anybody read the article and had a convincing point from it.

I scrolled down and was greeted with paragraphs about other phone manufacturers and carriers unrelated to Motorola. Not only is it slop, but additionally the author either doesn't trust their own evidence enough to keep it concise... or, worse, they didn't even bother to read it.

Samsung Electronics → Samsung Group Samsung is a South Korean conglomerate. While it is independent of Chinese state influence, Samsung ships its own extensive telemetry framework (Knox, Samsung Ads) on every device, and its carrier-customized firmware for prepaid devices includes its own extensive set of un-removable bloatware.

Digital Turbine, Inc. (NASDAQ: APPS) is an Austin, Texas-based publicly traded company. It operates the "Ignite" platform (com.dti.tracfone). Their business model relies on carrier contracts where providers like Verizon/TracFone allow Digital Turbine to preinstall software, charging app developers to silently drop applications onto devices as high-yield advertising delivery vehicles.

[–] f3nyx@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago

makes sense that they'd remove it from their forums if it has nothing to do with graphene. not a single point relevant to the OS

[–] whydudothatdrcrane@lemmy.ml 20 points 1 day ago

Curiously enough, for years and years the main criticism of GrapheneOS is that it only runs on Google Pixel phones. Finally, they announce they will work with another provider, Motorola. Some people proceed to simply forecast enshitification, spyware, and ads. I don't think this is sane at all.

[–] linuxjj@mastodon.social 16 points 1 day ago

@rocksolid nice, opening a new account to try and shit on the one mobile operating system that is developed and maintained by brutally transparent devs. Nice try drone.

[–] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 12 points 1 day ago

brand new account that registered just to share this link? that's not sus at all.

[–] Hiro8811@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Yes Motorola and everyone else, why do you think most companies have their own flavour of ui? But it makes me wonder if they're gonna try to pack some hardware level way to spy on users

[–] imahappyguy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 day ago

We're really comparing a burner to whatever Graphene is developing with Moto? Also, points deducted for the "owned by China bad" talking point.

[–] mctoasterson@reddthat.com 5 points 1 day ago

Something to be cautious of, but we need more actual evidence. Hopefully several different groups with diverse political interests and localities audit the new hardware when it launches.

I have a 2 year old cheap Motorola smartphone because I needed a Googled normie Android burner for certain apps, and I don't like to mix work and private device functions. I will say stock Motorola devices come with an annoying customized version of Android with tons of bloatware out of the box. I was able to remove 99% of it with ADB after identifying the offending packages.

Obvs that shouldn't be a problem with custom De-Googled OS on Motorola hardware.

[–] Mwa@thelemmy.club 6 points 2 days ago

R u kidding me

[–] potatoguy@mbin.potato-guy.space 1 points 1 day ago

This is true, Motorola devices send really weird info to motpaks.com and motpks.com. Can't uninstall the PAKS application. That's why I use my LineageOS Xiaomi Redmi Note 9s.

Edit: some stuff from the app:

adb shell dumpsys package com.motorola.paks | grep permission
    declared permissions:
    requested permissions:
      android.permission.CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE
      com.motorola.permission.ACCESS_PRODUCT_PERSIST
      android.permission.READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE
      android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED
      android.permission.ACCESS_KEYGUARD_SECURE_STORAGE
      android.permission.DEVICE_POWER
      android.permission.MANAGE_USERS
      android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE
      android.permission.OEM_UNLOCK_STATE
      com.motorola.actions.provider.permission.READ_MODES
      com.motorola.actions.provider.permission.WRITE_MODES
      com.motorola.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
      com.motorola.permission.PAKS_BIND_PERMISSION
      android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES
      android.permission.DELETE_PACKAGES
      android.permission.MANAGE_DEVICE_ADMINS
      android.permission.MANAGE_PROFILE_AND_DEVICE_OWNERS
      android.permission.START_ACTIVITIES_FROM_BACKGROUND
      android.permission.INTERACT_ACROSS_USERS
      android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES
      android.permission.INTERNET
      android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE
      android.permission.MANAGE_NETWORK_POLICY
      android.permission.MANAGE_ROLE_HOLDERS
    install permissions:
      com.motorola.permission.PAKS_BIND_PERMISSION: granted=true
      com.motorola.actions.provider.permission.READ_MODES: granted=true
      android.permission.INSTALL_PACKAGES: granted=true
      android.permission.CHANGE_NETWORK_STATE: granted=true
      android.permission.RECEIVE_BOOT_COMPLETED: granted=true
      com.motorola.actions.provider.permission.WRITE_MODES: granted=true
      android.permission.MANAGE_ROLE_HOLDERS: granted=true
      android.permission.DEVICE_POWER: granted=true
      android.permission.MANAGE_PROFILE_AND_DEVICE_OWNERS: granted=true
      android.permission.INTERNET: granted=true
      android.permission.READ_PRIVILEGED_PHONE_STATE: granted=true
      android.permission.ACCESS_KEYGUARD_SECURE_STORAGE: granted=true
      android.permission.CHANGE_WIFI_STATE: granted=true
      android.permission.MANAGE_USERS: granted=true
      android.permission.ACCESS_NETWORK_STATE: granted=true
      android.permission.INTERACT_ACROSS_USERS: granted=true
      android.permission.OEM_UNLOCK_STATE: granted=true
      android.permission.MANAGE_DEVICE_ADMINS: granted=true
      com.motorola.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS: granted=true
      android.permission.MANAGE_NETWORK_POLICY: granted=true
      android.permission.START_ACTIVITIES_FROM_BACKGROUND: granted=true
      android.permission.QUERY_ALL_PACKAGES: granted=true
      android.permission.DELETE_PACKAGES: granted=true
      runtime permissions:

adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.motorola.paks

Exception occurred while executing 'disable-user':
java.lang.SecurityException: Cannot disable a protected package: com.motorola.paks
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService.setEnabledSettings(PackageManagerService.java:4308)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService.-$$Nest$msetEnabledSettings(PackageManagerService.java:0)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService$IPackageManagerImpl.setApplicationEnabledSetting(PackageManagerService.java:6340)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.runSetEnabledSetting(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:2489)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerShellCommand.onCommand(PackageManagerShellCommand.java:273)
	at com.android.modules.utils.BasicShellCommandHandler.exec(BasicShellCommandHandler.java:97)
	at android.os.ShellCommand.exec(ShellCommand.java:38)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService$IPackageManagerImpl.onShellCommand(PackageManagerService.java:6992)
	at android.os.Binder.shellCommand(Binder.java:1068)
	at android.os.Binder.onTransact(Binder.java:888)
	at android.content.pm.IPackageManager$Stub.onTransact(IPackageManager.java:4374)
	at com.android.server.pm.PackageManagerService$IPackageManagerImpl.onTransact(PackageManagerService.java:6976)
	at android.os.Binder.execTransactInternal(Binder.java:1344)
	at android.os.Binder.execTransact(Binder.java:1275)

The DNS calls:

[+] JohnDarlen@lemmy.today -6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[–] Buffalobuffalo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Graphene is open source so what's up with your panic?

[+] JohnDarlen@lemmy.today -5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

[deleted]

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 day ago

The base OS of Android is, but the widely dispersed version maintained by Google with the hardware drivers required for it to work with the actual hardware is not.

That's why projects like Graphene can't work on every phone. They have to rely on either reverse engineering hardware drivers or the manufacturers providing the drivers. For many years, Google openly released the drivers for all the hardware in their Pixel line of phones, which allowed Graphene and other customized versions of Android to easily work on Pixel phones.

Manufacturers usually don't release drivers separately and instead they're only available built into the manufacturers customized Android version. Android Open Source Project is the open source base, then Google builds their proprietary stuff on top as "Android", then the various phone manufacturers build their own versions on top of Google's "Android" with: manufacturer specific crud added, phone specific crud added, and often phone carrier specific crud added.

[–] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

the difference is that Google is actually doing bad things, and you're just sharing conjecture about something you believe MIGHT POSSIBLY happen at some point in the indeterminate future.

this is without even considering that the belief in question is supported by a new account, registered hours ago to post an accusation without any proof to back it up besides a random issue posted to a random Codeberg, that was created very recently by an account with no history, to share rumors about Tracfone.

do you believe every single thing people tell you? because if so, I have some oceanfront property in Wyoming to sell you, and there's a Nigerian prince who wants to finance it it, he just needs you to send me $10,000 so he can unlock his assets and send you $1,000,000.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

Very tangential, but Android source code is getting a heavily delayed release, and this is harming projects like Graphene