VZW disabling tethering apps from market

[gsdreams]

Like you can't get easytether, pdanet or wireless tether simply by searching online.

I keep a copy of each on my phones SD card so i can quickly upload it whenever I wipe my data on the phone or when I get a new phone. I've emailed the file to my brother and coworkers before too.

Verizon is simply trying to close a Pandora's box and it will never be able to

Sent from my DROIDX

Verizon can see if your phone is rooted and I assume if rooted they will watch and make sure you don't use more than a certain amount of data in a day. I am pretty sure that there is a threshold that puts up a red flag on your account. If you reach that threshold and are rooted, Verizon stands in a pretty decent legal position to deny you future service or throttle you down. They don't need to pull the apps per se, but they are doing it to clear the legal minefield for future litigation. It takes away the defense "well it was in the market". Once you start scouring the interwebz for apk files, you lose the ignorance defense.

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

 

[czerdrill]

Like you can't get easytether, pdanet or wireless tether simply by searching online.

I keep a copy of each on my phones SD card so i can quickly upload it whenever I wipe my data on the phone or when I get a new phone. I've emailed the file to my brother and coworkers before too.

Verizon is simply trying to close a Pandora's box and it will never be able to

Sent from my DROIDX

Verizon can see if your phone is rooted and I assume if rooted they will watch and make sure you don't use more than a certain amount of data in a day. I am pretty sure that there is a threshold that puts up a red flag on your account. If you reach that threshold and are rooted, Verizon stands in a pretty decent legal position to deny you future service or throttle you down. They don't need to pull the apps per se, but they are doing it to clear the legal minefield for future litigation. It takes away the defense "well it was in the market". Once you start scouring the interwebz for apk files, you lose the ignorance defense.

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

I don't know if they can tell if you're rooted, id say probably not but I don't think there's any can of worms. Let's use some common sense here. Telling ppl to download an apk for recovery is not some endorsement to steal service. This is the classic "reaching" and running away with an idea that's commonly seen here. If something like this is taken to litigation or arbitration is "you advised me to sideload a legal app on my phone, so I decided to steal service" a viable defense? Let's stop the foolishness...

 

[gsdreams]

Verizon can see if your phone is rooted and I assume if rooted they will watch and make sure you don't use more than a certain amount of data in a day. I am pretty sure that there is a threshold that puts up a red flag on your account. If you reach that threshold and are rooted, Verizon stands in a pretty decent legal position to deny you future service or throttle you down. They don't need to pull the apps per se, but they are doing it to clear the legal minefield for future litigation. It takes away the defense "well it was in the market". Once you start scouring the interwebz for apk files, you lose the ignorance defense.

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

I don't know if they can tell if you're rooted, id say probably not but I don't think there's any can of worms. Let's use some common sense here. Telling ppl to download an apk for recovery is not some endorsement to steal service. This is the classic "reaching" and running away with an idea that's commonly seen here. If something like this is taken to litigation or arbitration is "you advised me to sideload a legal app on my phone, so I decided to steal service" a viable defense? Let's stop the foolishness...

I didn't say anything about stealing service, etc... I was simply refering to downloading apps directly from the internet (apk files). It could be any number of apk's that a person chooses to download, I wasn't being specific.

Personally I think it is "unethical", but each person has there own feelings on that and it has already been hashed out multiple times.

As for whether it is "stealing" or not, I honestly don't know. I've read all the posts here, I actually sat down and read the contract because I was curious, then I read the T&C on VZW's site.

The truth is, I think a good attorney could argue it either way.

 

[czerdrill]

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

I don't know if they can tell if you're rooted, id say probably not but I don't think there's any can of worms. Let's use some common sense here. Telling ppl to download an apk for recovery is not some endorsement to steal service. This is the classic "reaching" and running away with an idea that's commonly seen here. If something like this is taken to litigation or arbitration is "you advised me to sideload a legal app on my phone, so I decided to steal service" a viable defense? Let's stop the foolishness...

I didn't say anything about stealing service, etc... I was simply refering to downloading apps directly from the internet (apk files). It could be any number of apk's that a person chooses to download, I wasn't being specific.

Personally I think it is "unethical", but each person has there own feelings on that and it has already been hashed out multiple times.

As for whether it is "stealing" or not, I honestly don't know. I've read all the posts here, I actually sat down and read the contract because I was curious, then I read the T&C on VZW's site.

The truth is, I think a good attorney could argue it either way.

Yeah even a bad attorney will argue it haha but it's there in black and white that it's not allowed. If (and I don't know or even think it ever would), but if it went to court or arbitration I don't see how tetherers have a leg to stand on. Of course the cheaper option for vzw is just throttle, tier or cancel the contract which is what they're gonna do.

 

[UNC]

Like you can't get easytether, pdanet or wireless tether simply by searching online.

I keep a copy of each on my phones SD card so i can quickly upload it whenever I wipe my data on the phone or when I get a new phone. I've emailed the file to my brother and coworkers before too.

Verizon is simply trying to close a Pandora's box and it will never be able to

Sent from my DROIDX

Verizon can see if your phone is rooted and I assume if rooted they will watch and make sure you don't use more than a certain amount of data in a day. I am pretty sure that there is a threshold that puts up a red flag on your account. If you reach that threshold and are rooted, Verizon stands in a pretty decent legal position to deny you future service or throttle you down. They don't need to pull the apps per se, but they are doing it to clear the legal minefield for future litigation. It takes away the defense "well it was in the market". Once you start scouring the interwebz for apk files, you lose the ignorance defense.

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

Going to a website that Verizon recommends and installing an APK is not the same as scouring the web for pulled APKs.... Not in any way shape or form....

Also, Verizon could just subpoena Google for a list of every user that downloaded "root" applications. The contract you signed with them allows that. I am not saying it's imminent or even likely, but to act like it's impossible is ignorant.

 

[gsdreams]

Verizon can see if your phone is rooted and I assume if rooted they will watch and make sure you don't use more than a certain amount of data in a day. I am pretty sure that there is a threshold that puts up a red flag on your account. If you reach that threshold and are rooted, Verizon stands in a pretty decent legal position to deny you future service or throttle you down. They don't need to pull the apps per se, but they are doing it to clear the legal minefield for future litigation. It takes away the defense "well it was in the market". Once you start scouring the interwebz for apk files, you lose the ignorance defense.

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

Going to a website that Verizon recommends and installing an APK is not the same as scouring the web for pulled APKs.... Not in any way shape or form....

Also, Verizon could just subpoena Google for a list of every user that downloaded "root" applications. The contract you signed with them allows that. I am not saying it's imminent or even likely, but to act like it's impossible is ignorant.

I didn't say Verizon couldn't find out, but it would be difficult. All the "Root" applications have been removed from the marketplace, so people have to root manually or download an APK outside of the market.

In the current software on the phones I highly doubt there is anything that would send any information back to Verizon that the phone is rooted, which means they have no way "at this time" of telling that the phone is rooted.

This doesn't mean in the future they may include something in the OS update to report back on rooting, but I doubt it. Rooting itself isn't something that is that bad. It's some of the apps that people install after rooting.

Now, what I could see verizon doing is implementing in a system update a method that reports back what applications are installed to a phone. This would allow them to see tethering apps installed on a phone.

Although again, at this time I doubt they have any way of seeing this or they would already be taking action on it.

And you are right, going to a website that VZW recommends to download an APK compared to searching the net for one is differnt.

What you are forgetting though is that there are a lot of people who download 1 APK, realize they can install apps that way, so if they can't find on the market go googling it without any idea that they "shouldn't do it".

For those few that have read the T&C and contract it is one thing, but over 90% don't read them.

Also, in regards to a previous comment I doubt verizon would just "cancel" contracts, they are working too hard on Customer Retention and loyalty. If it really came down to it they would probably go to arbitration because by putting the first foot forward on it, avoids the other person from pursuing it later and resolves the issue.

 

[czerdrill]

Also, in regards to a previous comment I doubt verizon would just "cancel" contracts, they are working too hard on Customer Retention and loyalty. If it really came down to it they would probably go to arbitration because by putting the first foot forward on it, avoids the other person from pursuing it later and resolves the issue.

they'd lose money by going to arbitration, probably more then they'd lose by cancelling people who are stealing service from them anyway. I've not heard one instance where Verizon has gone to arbitration with any customer(s), and i don't see them going that route now, especially over something like this that has an easy solution which is tiers and throttling.

They really have no incentive or need to waste money on arbitration, and we all know the customer is not going to request arbitration (customers just like to talk a lot with no substance). I agree that they're not going to just cancel you randomly out of the blue, but they don't have to do that either. tiers and throttling will work just fine.

 

[pc747]

Verizon can see if your phone is rooted and I assume if rooted they will watch and make sure you don't use more than a certain amount of data in a day. I am pretty sure that there is a threshold that puts up a red flag on your account. If you reach that threshold and are rooted, Verizon stands in a pretty decent legal position to deny you future service or throttle you down. They don't need to pull the apps per se, but they are doing it to clear the legal minefield for future litigation. It takes away the defense "well it was in the market". Once you start scouring the interwebz for apk files, you lose the ignorance defense.

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

Going to a website that Verizon recommends and installing an APK is not the same as scouring the web for pulled APKs.... Not in any way shape or form....

Also, Verizon could just subpoena Google for a list of every user that downloaded "root" applications. The contract you signed with them allows that. I am not saying it's imminent or even likely, but to act like it's impossible is ignorant.

And Google would refuse. If VZW was to go that route they would look foolish since their employees are rooted. Seriously VZW don't care about people who root, its your phone do what you want just if you need tech support you will need to be stock. As far as WiFi tethering is concerned. I believe this conversation is about to be wrapped up gentlemen. VZW is going tiered and that will solve the issue. Yes those grandfathered could still tether illegally but they will eventually upgrade and as they do it will weed out the data hogs, and for those still on unlimited data they are throttling back their data speeds. So VZW basically addressed the issue.

sent from droidforums app

 

[czerdrill]

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

Going to a website that Verizon recommends and installing an APK is not the same as scouring the web for pulled APKs.... Not in any way shape or form....

Also, Verizon could just subpoena Google for a list of every user that downloaded "root" applications. The contract you signed with them allows that. I am not saying it's imminent or even likely, but to act like it's impossible is ignorant.

And Google would refuse. If VZW was to go that route they would look foolish since their employees are rooted. Seriously VZW don't care about people who root, its your phone do what you want just if you need tech support you will need to be stock. As far as WiFi tethering is concerned. I believe this conversation is about to be wrapped up gentlemen. VZW is going tiered and that will solve the issue. Yes those grandfathered could still tether illegally but they will eventually upgrade and as they do it will weed out the data hogs, and for those still on unlimited data they are throttling back their data speeds. So VZW basically addressed the issue.

sent from droidforums app

Yeah unfortunately this is going to make the whiners whine even more but oh well. Btw, if google was given a subpoena they couldn't refuse

 

[UNC]

Doing tech support I have never seen any method or place where it says in Verizon's system "This phone is rooted".

I highly doubt Verizon has a way to tell if a phone is rooted.

As for apps not being in the Marketplace..... Well, Verizon actually recommends people who have TEC to visit "mymobilerecovery.com" and download an APK to install on there phone for recovery.

So, verizon already opens the can of worms of looking on the net for .apk files.

No, I'm not saying it is legal, ethical, etc... That is for each person doing it to decide for themselves.

Going to a website that Verizon recommends and installing an APK is not the same as scouring the web for pulled APKs.... Not in any way shape or form....

Also, Verizon could just subpoena Google for a list of every user that downloaded "root" applications. The contract you signed with them allows that. I am not saying it's imminent or even likely, but to act like it's impossible is ignorant.

I didn't say Verizon couldn't find out, but it would be difficult. All the "Root" applications have been removed from the marketplace, so people have to root manually or download an APK outside of the market.

In the current software on the phones I highly doubt there is anything that would send any information back to Verizon that the phone is rooted, which means they have no way "at this time" of telling that the phone is rooted.

This doesn't mean in the future they may include something in the OS update to report back on rooting, but I doubt it. Rooting itself isn't something that is that bad. It's some of the apps that people install after rooting.

Now, what I could see verizon doing is implementing in a system update a method that reports back what applications are installed to a phone. This would allow them to see tethering apps installed on a phone.

Although again, at this time I doubt they have any way of seeing this or they would already be taking action on it.

And you are right, going to a website that VZW recommends to download an APK compared to searching the net for one is differnt.

What you are forgetting though is that there are a lot of people who download 1 APK, realize they can install apps that way, so if they can't find on the market go googling it without any idea that they "shouldn't do it".

For those few that have read the T&C and contract it is one thing, but over 90% don't read them.

Also, in regards to a previous comment I doubt verizon would just "cancel" contracts, they are working too hard on Customer Retention and loyalty. If it really came down to it they would probably go to arbitration because by putting the first foot forward on it, avoids the other person from pursuing it later and resolves the issue.

I don't mean apps that root your phone, I mean apps that require you be rooted to use... Such as TiBu..

VZW's "Droid" line is the only reason Android is what it is today... Google would go thru hoops backwards to appease a company that is lining their pockets. Especially if the other option is litigation. If Verizon could prove that Google is aiding and abetting the misuse of their network they could EASILY obtain a court order that mandates Google release the identities of the users in question.

Like I said, I doubt they will go that route... But the option is available to them. More likely they just throttle or cancel anyone over 5gb.

 

[X_TAC23]

Closed......