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Permanently disable wifi

K

kMaiSmith

Lurker
Is there any way to permanently disable the wifi on an android device? I volunteer at a prison teaching inmates how to program and we've been wanting to go into android development. but unfortunately i cannot donate an android device with wifi. if you can't do it in the software, how difficult would it be to take it apart and break the wifi only?
 
I did a quick Google search and came across a thread on XDA. It basically says to delete or rename the bcmdhd.ko in /systems/lib/modules. I imagine you'd need to be rooted to do this.


The thread is here
 
Forgive my ignorance, but how would I go about accessing that module? I have rooted the device but when I explore the folders none include anything like that.
 
Davdi said:
This might be what you're looking for: Chainfire's Pry-Fi Android App released to defend against NSA Spying under Public Wi-Fi - The Hacker News

COMPLETELY disables WiFi and spoofs the device's MAC Assress
Click to expand...

I think that article is a bit misleading.

Today XDA Senior Recognized Developer 'Chainfire' has released a new Android app called Pry-Fi, that allow a user to disable Wi-Fi completely, including the background network scanning.

Pry-Fi will prevent your device from announcing all the networks it knows to the outside world, but it will still allow background scanning and automatically connecting to Wi-Fi networks.
Click to expand...
:confused:

Pry-fi does not disable Wifi completely - all it does is spoof the MAC address. Wifi still functions normally with the app. Removing the driver module as Mayhem suggested is probably going to be the best route to permanently disable the Wifi radio (well, short of complicated/delicate hardware modding).
 
Android does need a way to get rid of both wifi and camera. There are those whose work forbids a camera on the premises.
 
zuben el genub said:
Android does need a way to get rid of both wifi and camera. There are those whose work forbids a camera on the premises.
Click to expand...

Yeh places like GCHQ or NSA. TBH it's pretty much impossible to buy a consumer cellphone, tablet or laptop without a camera in it, unless you got something really old. The NSA apparently banned Furby toys because they thought they could be recording everything they "hear". When in fact they don't.

Prisons do have very strict rules about radios. Disabling WiFi in software may not be enough, especially if it can be undone. In UK prisons, the only radios allowed were MW and LW only, no FM. That was years ago, but they certainly prohibit cellphones these days.
 
This is one reason that we really need something like Motorola's Google's Project Ara to succeed - so that a customer can choose exactly what components they want to be included in their device.
 
codesplice said:
This is one reason that we really need something like Motorola's Google's Project Ara to succeed - so that a customer can choose exactly what components they want to be included in their device.
Click to expand...

If there's enough demand for a specific device, sometimes manufacturers will do it. In the 70s UK prisons prohibited radios with FM and telescopic antennas. So Roberts, a once popular UK radio manufacturer, made a radio that was intended for prison use, they called it "The Rambler" LOL. All the other Roberts sets had FM and telescopic antennas.
 
mikedt said:
Prisons do have very strict rules about radios. Disabling WiFi in software may not be enough, especially if it can be undone.
Click to expand...

That would be my concern (emphasis mine). I can't imagine that prison officials would allow an otherwise prohibited device, based solely on the word of the donor that Wifi has been disabled by following recommendations provided through a public internet forum - even when the donor in a current volunteer at the prison.
 
codesplice said:
This is one reason that we really need something like Motorola's Google's Project Ara to succeed - so that a customer can choose exactly what components they want to be included in their device.
Click to expand...

I like this idea, but it conjures up images of inmates smuggling various parts, in their parts.... ahem :o
 
Its pretty easy to Bork the WiFi and camera by deleting libs or flashing a kernel that's missing some of those proprietary parts.

And unless the inmates plan on reverse engineering close source drivers it won't change
 
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