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Question about legality of rooting.
- Thread starter fearofth3dark
- Start date
Gmash
Extreme Android User
What no one has mentioned is by violating the user agreement/terms of service, the service provider could not just void your warranty, but refuse to provide said service, thereby leaving you with an expensive paperweight. After all you are technically violating the contract, which means they are not obligated to hold up their end of the deal, either.
Medion
Android Expert
I'm going to simplify this for you. As for my "credentials" to back up this statement, I am a tech geek who owns an Android phone and writes my own ROMs. I'm also a certified paralegal. So, with that said:
Rooting is 100% legal because you are affecting a device that you own. However, if it's a company phone that you don't own, you could be breaching a contract. So, don't root your corporate phone, only one that you own.
However, when you get service from a carrier, even if you're going month-to-month, you're on some form of contract. You have a ToS (Terms of Service) to abide by. While you can root your phone, there are certain things that root allows you to do, such as free wireless tethering, that may violate your carrier's ToS. Most carriers wouldn't go this far, but they could sue you for theft of service.
Bottom line is that when you break the ToS, you do so at your own risk because you are violating the terms of your contract. However, rooting in and of itself is perfectly legal. A simple comparison would be that of legacy gaming system emulation. Downloading an emulator is perfectly legal. Downloading the ROM of a game that you do not own, and is not in the public domain as stated by the ESA, is illegal.
zuben el genub
Extreme Android User
I was reading about Verizon and HTC spat about rooting and the phone's ID. What you said was the gist of it.
It should be easy enough for a carrier to tell if you are illegally using services, TMO slows you down if you go over your data limit, and others cut you off. So it can be done, without denying you voice and text services.
That is making me wonder - a lot of people, me included, rooted the phones to get rid of the bloat. Are the mfg and carriers getting kickbacks or a subsidy to put all this stuff on the phone? Seriously, if you don't use a music service, or social sites, they are not necessary for phone operation.
They are a user's choice, and the user should be able to decide to delete them or not.
Z
Gmash
Extreme Android User
Obviously the carriers are getting something for putting all the bloatware on there, thats why you can't delete it without rooting. What I stated was somewhat of a worst case scenario, however I have read about Apple threatening to brick peoples jailbroken iPhones, and one thing they have ALREADY done is not let people read books that they have legally paid for (from Apple) on their jailbroken iPhones. They can still read them on their iPads or whatever just not on jailbroken devices. That means they KNOW who is jailbroken and can control what they can use EVEN IF THEY LEGALLY BOUGHT IT FROM APPLE! Now,i don't see any reason for Google to do this with Android, but I sure could see Verizon or another carrier doing something similar.
well that is just 1 more reason i am not fond of apple and dont have any of their products.
i used my hard earned $$ on a device.. i own it.. it is mine.
i can do what ever I want with it. as long as I dont take away from you or anyone else..it is mine to do as I please.
i used my hard earned $$ on a device.. i own it.. it is mine.
i can do what ever I want with it. as long as I dont take away from you or anyone else..it is mine to do as I please.
Gmash
Extreme Android User
Not to mention you are buying a book FROM THEM to use ON THEIR BRAND DEVICE and now they are going to tell you that you can't read it because they don't like what you are doing with your own property that you also bought (and paid good money for) FROM THEM. that is wrong on so many levels.
Medion
Android Expert
Do you have a link? This sounds like an interesting read.
Short of remote access to your device (which would get them into a lot of trouble), they actually cannot tell if you are tethering. By default, Verizon had HTC make their Mobile Hotspot app "flip a switch," so to speak. This means that when you are not using the hotspot app, the data is reported to Verizon as coming from "account A." However, when hotspot is active, it tells Verizon, "Hey, I'm now using account B." But, because Verizon has no way of truly knowing if your data is tethered or not, ALL data from the phone, while the hotspot app is active, is reported to Verizon as tethered data, and thus, counts against your 2GB tethering cap.
When you change this setting behind their back, or use a 3rd party tethering app, all data is reported as untethered, so Verizon cannot track it.
Demache
Android Expert
Well, they could find out. But they would need to keep a close eye on your account for any strange activity. For example, your phone starts connecting to Xbox Live services and starts transferring oodles of packets from the game your playing. I don't know of any phones that can go into Xbox Live matches on their own. But if your just web browsing, it will be much harder to figure out. And the info the browser sends about itself (platform, browser name, screen resolution) can easily be spoofed, so its not really accurate.
novox77
Leeeroy Jennnkinnns!
Do you have a source for this? I know plenty of ppl w/ jailbroken iphones and have never heard of any blockage. My own iPad is jailbroken as well. There's no indication Apple knows or cares.
Gmash
Extreme Android User
Google this: "Apple disables books on jailbroken iPhones"
And:" Apple threatens to brick jailbroken iPhones"
They do it through "updates" to the bookstore.
Android carriers doing it the same way- send out an OTA "update" and see which phones don't accept it. So far they are just in the information gathering stage, but read the writing on the wall.
zuben el genub
Extreme Android User
@Medion.
I think I found the link on Android Central/XDA. It was in the thread about HTC locking the bootloader.
I read through it and it sure sounded like the TMO/ATT posts.
As to not accepting an update on the phone - why should you if you like the way everything is currently? I'm rooted and unlocked and really have no intention of getting a special ROM. I rooted to get rid of the bloat.
I remember MS and a couple of service patches that caused quite a few problems, so I hesitate about any upgrade until the bugs are out. I looked at the upgrade to 2.3 and the only thing that I'd be interested in is VOIP.
I think I found the link on Android Central/XDA. It was in the thread about HTC locking the bootloader.
I read through it and it sure sounded like the TMO/ATT posts.
As to not accepting an update on the phone - why should you if you like the way everything is currently? I'm rooted and unlocked and really have no intention of getting a special ROM. I rooted to get rid of the bloat.
I remember MS and a couple of service patches that caused quite a few problems, so I hesitate about any upgrade until the bugs are out. I looked at the upgrade to 2.3 and the only thing that I'd be interested in is VOIP.
wayrad
Android Expert
True. The last update for my phone came out when I was on Virtuous, I think, and my phone wouldn't accept it because Virtuous already had everything that Verizon was only just getting around to providing.
novox77
Leeeroy Jennnkinnns!
I see the articles about that. Thanks.
As for using OTAs to determine root status: that's HIGHLY unreliable, since many people don't accept OTAs even if they're not rooted.
Medion
Android Expert
This is incorrect. It wouldn't accept it because, while the update would prompt you to update, being rooted won't allow you to actually install it.
Virtuous is behind. Version 3.2 is based on the August OTA with the October leaked kernel. He's missed updates that occurred in the November OTA, such as Sense bug-fixes.
wayrad
Android Expert
Virtuous doesn't prompt for OTAs, actually, and I can't remember when the one I was thinking of came out. Could be it's the kernel I'm thinking of, but it's been a while. I had heard something about updated Sense apps since then, but thought they had come out later. I could easily be mistaken, though.
Does a rooted phone running the stock ROM not accept OTAs, or is it only phones with custom ROMs?
Knewz
Android Expert
And some people accept the OTA(usually accidentally) and reroot after.
Medion
Android Expert
Virtuous 3.2 in theory should not prompt for an update because he changed the build.prop. Virtuous 2.x did, however, prompt when the November OTA came out.
If you have a rooted stock ROM, your phone will download an OTA update, then prompt you to install. If you try to install, it will reboot, but not install, and will eventually prompt you again. You have to be stock and unrooted to install the OTA. However, you can leave S-Off.
A true rooted stock phone would accept the ota gaining root does not block it. If you flashed a "stock" rom the dev may have incorporated some code that would cause the ota not to install
pearlcabrezos
Lurker
This would be nice. great ideas guys.
Medion
Android Expert
Except that the last OTA would not install on a rooted stock phone. It would do the same reboot without install as any other custom Sense ROM. Heck, the update wouldn't even download and prompt you for install unless you were running a ROM based on stock.
Also, there is no "code" that blocks the downloading of the OTA. You simply change the build/prop number to be equal to or higher than the number of the new OTA, and the system thinks that it is up to date, and therefore, doesn't download the update.