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authorDenis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org>2024-03-18 02:40:29 +0100
committerDenis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org>2024-03-18 02:54:24 +0100
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convert.py, markdown: Fix right single quotation mark.
Some generated markdown have right single quotation marks, and without this fix, it ends up being displayed as '???' in the generated HTML files. As an example with site/new-replicant-test-images-available.html we have: We are please to remind you that, as usual, Replicant is fully free software and doesn???t include any proprietary firmwares. Converting the right single quotation marks to apostrophes fixed it. Signed-off-by: Denis 'GNUtoo' Carikli <GNUtoo@cyberdimension.org>
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-rw-r--r--markdown/2020_04_what-could-go-wrong-with-devices-that-have-non-replaceable-batteries.md146
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diff --git a/markdown/2020_04_what-could-go-wrong-with-devices-that-have-non-replaceable-batteries.md b/markdown/2020_04_what-could-go-wrong-with-devices-that-have-non-replaceable-batteries.md
index 63ebc6a..4ece681 100644
--- a/markdown/2020_04_what-could-go-wrong-with-devices-that-have-non-replaceable-batteries.md
+++ b/markdown/2020_04_what-could-go-wrong-with-devices-that-have-non-replaceable-batteries.md
@@ -12,23 +12,23 @@ Edit 3: Added Epilogue
In the summer 2019, in the Replicant contributors conference in Paris, the
people present were all in favor of not supporting devices with battery that
-can’t easily be replaced, because it would make the use and development of
+can't easily be replaced, because it would make the use and development of
Replicant for these devices too complicated.
In subsequent conference like the FOSDEM 2020, and in discussions with other
-Replicant users and/or contributors, people didn’t have objections to the
+Replicant users and/or contributors, people didn't have objections to the
decision.
-Even if we don’t want to support such devices in Replicant, we are still open
+Even if we don't want to support such devices in Replicant, we are still open
to collaborate with people wanting to add support for such devices in other
projects. For instance we still support the Galaxy S and the Nexus S in
libsamsung-ipc while the devices are not supported anymore in Replicant, and
-we also do accept patches for devices we don’t want to support in Repliant.
+we also do accept patches for devices we don't want to support in Repliant.
So in practice, some tablets like the Galaxy Tab 2 have battery that are not
removable in the usual sense as you cannot remove the battery, without any
tools, while walking, but the battery can still be replaced with the help of
-basic tools like tweezers and screwdrivers. In addition people don’t
+basic tools like tweezers and screwdrivers. In addition people don't
necessarily expect tablets to last one full day. So we still intend to support
such devices.
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ more complicated and even more dangerous to change the battery as you need to
use very dangerous chemicals to remove the glue. So we decided to not support
devices like that.
-Given the impact of the decision (most newer phones don’t have non removable
+Given the impact of the decision (most newer phones don't have non removable
batteries), even if that decision seem sound in theory, we also wanted to test
it in practice, to be really sure it was the right decision.
@@ -50,14 +50,14 @@ when adding support for a smartphone that has a non replaceable battery.
We also wanted to measure how much time was needed to add support for a device
as fast as possible, because if we supported devices without a replaceable
-battery, we would need to rush to add support for the device while it’s still
+battery, we would need to rush to add support for the device while it's still
being sold new in order to maximize the lifetime of the device under
Replicant. Otherwise, people would need to buy the device second hand, where
the battery would potentially not last a full day anymore.
## Choosing a device
-We didn’t want to spend too much time on that experiment, so we didn’t do much
+We didn't want to spend too much time on that experiment, so we didn't do much
research and choose the first phone that would match what we were looking for.
We wanted the most recent device device with:
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ compatible with Heimdall.
So we choose a Samsung SM-N930F which meets all the requirements above. It
also has an Exynos 8890, 4GiB of RAM, a stylus and runs Android 6. We wanted
-to have a stylus and a lot of RAM because as we didn’t really intend to add
+to have a stylus and a lot of RAM because as we didn't really intend to add
official support for it in Replicant, we still wanted the work to also be
potentially useful for GNU/Linux distributions that might be interested in
supporting this device or similar devices:
@@ -88,14 +88,14 @@ supporting this device or similar devices:
on the device:
* As the stylus is more precise than big fingers, you can more easily use software that is less well adapted to the very small display, the very high pixel density, and big fingers.
- * Having 4GB of RAM should be good enough to run many common applications and desktops. It also means that the phone could be supported for a longer time if there weren’t other factors like the non-removable battery that would prevent that.
+ * Having 4GB of RAM should be good enough to run many common applications and desktops. It also means that the phone could be supported for a longer time if there weren't other factors like the non-removable battery that would prevent that.
As for Replicant, the software support for this device is very similar to the
Galaxy S7 which is supported by LineageOS.
Unfortunately, the device we chose has shared memory between the modem and the
system on a chip[1] but as this was just for a quick experiment and that we
-didn’t intend to add support for it in libsamsung-ipc, we just ignored that
+didn't intend to add support for it in libsamsung-ipc, we just ignored that
issue in order to spend the last amount of time possible.
## References:
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ issue in order to spend the last amount of time possible.
# Getting the device
The first problem we had was finding the device. We started looking locally,
-including in second hand websites, but we didn’t manage to find any. So after
+including in second hand websites, but we didn't manage to find any. So after
that we started looking in international second hand websites, and we found
one.
@@ -115,10 +115,10 @@ that this was somewhat related to the non-replaceable battery, though some
Galaxy S7 could still be found.
However for some reasons, even if the device was shipped, as we have proof
-that it was sent to the post office, we didn’t receive it. We are still
-investigating why, but we didn’t manage to get a conclusive answer yet from
+that it was sent to the post office, we didn't receive it. We are still
+investigating why, but we didn't manage to get a conclusive answer yet from
the shipping company as we were redirected from service to service and no one
-seem to know why the device didn’t reach its destination. The issue is also
+seem to know why the device didn't reach its destination. The issue is also
unrelated to COVID-19 as it was shipped by the person many months before it
was declared a pandemic.
@@ -126,14 +126,14 @@ So we started again to look for a device and finally found a second device.
The offer was really strange. It tell that they disguised the device to look
like another one to make shipping work.
-This didn’t surprise us, as some customs are already actively fighting against
+This didn't surprise us, as some customs are already actively fighting against
the right to repair devices[1]. So at the time we though it was because they
decided to fight against the second hand market as well.
In that offer, the person giving the device away also had a strange request:
she would not charge for the phone but she wanted us to get the data out of
-the phone. The person explained to us that she didn’t trust nor Google nor
-Samsung with her data, which included private pictures but didn’t manage to
+the phone. The person explained to us that she didn't trust nor Google nor
+Samsung with her data, which included private pictures but didn't manage to
get her data out of the device. As the request seemed legitimate we agreed to
try but as we are not expert in rooting that it might have failed. The data
was not encrypted so it also would have made things easier.
@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ was not encrypted so it also would have made things easier.
Working with that device was not easy. The first issue we got was that the
battery would not charge at all, and the battery indication was at 0%.
-This explained why the person wasn’t able to extract her data from the device.
+This explained why the person wasn't able to extract her data from the device.
We found on XDA that it was possible to get the battery charge again if we
managed to downgrade the phone OS. This looked very strange. We also learned
@@ -160,10 +160,10 @@ that is supposed to only affect the the devices fused with the version 2.
Maybe it was because the battery was already very discharged that it did that,
and that the bootloader and OS refused to charge it.
-As we didn’t have a lot of time to spent on all that, we didn’t want to
+As we didn't have a lot of time to spent on all that, we didn't want to
investigate more and proceeded to download OS images for older versions of the
-devices. We are also not sure if this was legal or not as the images weren’t
-hosted by Samsung, and so we don’t know
+devices. We are also not sure if this was legal or not as the images weren't
+hosted by Samsung, and so we don't know
if the website we downloaded them from had some arrangement with Samsung or
not.
@@ -183,7 +183,7 @@ We have summarized our attempts in the RootingDevices[1] page of the Replicant
wiki. We still need to update it to add information about our attempts with
the SM-N930F.
-As we didn’t find any rooting application in F-Droid, and that we didn’t want
+As we didn't find any rooting application in F-Droid, and that we didn't want
to use nonfree applications to root the device, we instead started looking at
vulnerabilities that enabled us to get root. For each vulnerability we looked
if the kernel version of the device was affected, and if so we looked for free
@@ -211,15 +211,15 @@ Each time we wanted to flash an image with Heimdall, we had to wait for hours
for the device to charge a tiny bit.
The stress of the developer working on the device increased a lot because the
-device was potentially always on, and we didn’t know when it had the ability
-to record conversations or not, as we didn’t do a review of its freedom,
+device was potentially always on, and we didn't know when it had the ability
+to record conversations or not, as we didn't do a review of its freedom,
privacy and security issues.
-The developer’s passwords could be revealed as well, by recording the noise of
+The developer's passwords could be revealed as well, by recording the noise of
his keyboard, and even GPG keys can be reconstructed through noise if they are
used intensively.
-In order to preserve the developer’s sanity and the security of the Replicant
+In order to preserve the developer's sanity and the security of the Replicant
project, the device was kept in the fridge most of the time.
This was very weird for the people visiting that developer as he had to put
@@ -228,13 +228,13 @@ the device in the fridge each time people came by.
Sometimes he forgot to put the device in the fridge and started to have
political and/or intimate conversation and at some point he remembered the
device and had to go put it in the fridge in the middle of the conversations.
-That was very weird. Especially the “Can you wait a second? I’ve to put the
+That was very weird. Especially the “Can you wait a second? I've to put the
phone in the fridge.” part.
In addition to all these issues, we also had the device crash during
-development, however we couldn’t wait until the battery was fully depleted as
-the battery didn’t charge. We had to hope that the device wound not go in some
-mode where we were stuck. However it didn’t happen, and we always managed to
+development, however we couldn't wait until the battery was fully depleted as
+the battery didn't charge. We had to hope that the device wound not go in some
+mode where we were stuck. However it didn't happen, and we always managed to
recover.
Then one day, around when the COVID-19 confinement started, when he was away
@@ -272,8 +272,8 @@ dismissed:
* The “explosive device” was in fact the Samsung SM-N930F, which is best
known as Galaxy Note 7. As many other people also had one at some point,
- the court dismissed that charge, especially because this wasn’t done on
- purpose. The judge also said that they couldn’t condemn people for being
+ the court dismissed that charge, especially because this wasn't done on
+ purpose. The judge also said that they couldn't condemn people for being
stupid, not remembering about the issue, and relying on the outdated
offline version of Wikipedia through Kiwix to do research on hardware.
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ dismissed:
copyright.
* The violation of trade secrets was also dismissed, even if printed
- schematics were found on the developer’s table. As the schematics were
+ schematics were found on the developer's table. As the schematics were
published online in many forums like XDA, they were also considered as
fair use. Various leaked documents like the Snowden documents, or
Wikileaks revelations were also used during the case to prove that some
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@ dismissed:
* Refusing to give encryption key of his hard disks: with a lot of pressure
from many associations, this was dismissed as it was merely an excuse to
- get access to the developer’s data and it was not relevant to the case.
+ get access to the developer's data and it was not relevant to the case.
The same applied with his refusal of handling any of this account data
(which also includes the passwords giving access to the Replicant
infrastructure).
@@ -327,8 +327,8 @@ Subpoena and other declarations:
more constructive things like adding support for phones with a removable
battery only.” to which the developer agreed.
-* He also declared that rushing to add support for a phone wasn’t a good
- idea either, as because of that, he didn’t realize that the device was a
+* He also declared that rushing to add support for a phone wasn't a good
+ idea either, as because of that, he didn't realize that the device was a
Galaxy Note 7.
He got a suspended sentence of 3 months for all that.
@@ -342,80 +342,80 @@ turned out to be very fun.
As the developer had to sign a document with all the hardware on it, to get it
back, the following conversations occurred when filling the list of hardware:
-* Employee: What’s this thing?
+* Employee: What's this thing?
-* Developer: It’s a UART adapter for smartphone, you know behind the USB
+* Developer: It's a UART adapter for smartphone, you know behind the USB
connector there is [very long technical explanations].
-* Employee: Let’s write “UART adapter for smartphone”.
+* Employee: Let's write “UART adapter for smartphone”.
* Developer: It also probably works on tablets you know, and it can also do
many other things other than UART, like power on the phone and switch
modes [very long technical explanations].
-* Employee: Let’s write “complicated computer hardware”.
+* Employee: Let's write “complicated computer hardware”.
Or:
-* Employee: What’s this thing?
+* Employee: What's this thing?
-* Developer: It’s a hardware to trace the protocol between the SIM card and
+* Developer: It's a hardware to trace the protocol between the SIM card and
the phone modem, there is a standard called terminal profile which has
many privacy implications like [very long explanations].
-* Employee: Let’s write “SIM card tracker”.
+* Employee: Let's write “SIM card tracker”.
-* Developer: It can’t track SIM cards at all, but it can trace the protocol
+* Developer: It can't track SIM cards at all, but it can trace the protocol
[very long explanation again].
-* Employee: Sigh, let’s write “complicated computer hardware” again.
+* Employee: Sigh, let's write “complicated computer hardware” again.
Or:
-* Employee: What’s this laptop? It’s a laptop, right?
+* Employee: What's this laptop? It's a laptop, right?
-* Developer: It’s a Thinkpad X200, which is a computer capable of running
+* Developer: It's a Thinkpad X200, which is a computer capable of running
Libreboot, this has many freedom implications like [very long
explanations].
-* Employee: Let’s write “vintage computer”.
+* Employee: Let's write “vintage computer”.
* Developer: But I use that computer you know [very long explanations].
-* Employee: Sigh, let’s write “complicated computer hardware” again.
+* Employee: Sigh, let's write “complicated computer hardware” again.
Or:
-* Employee: What’s that? Is it a very complicated smartphone?
+* Employee: What's that? Is it a very complicated smartphone?
-* Developer: It’s just a usual Galaxy S II (GT-I9100G).
+* Developer: It's just a usual Galaxy S II (GT-I9100G).
-* Employee: Let’s write “Galaxy S II”.
+* Employee: Let's write “Galaxy S II”.
-* Developer: I’ve also a Galaxy S II (GT-I9100) which has a very different
+* Developer: I've also a Galaxy S II (GT-I9100) which has a very different
system on a chip [very long explanations].
-* Employee: Sigh, let’s write “complicated computer hardware” again.
+* Employee: Sigh, let's write “complicated computer hardware” again.
Or even:
-* Employee: What’s that?
+* Employee: What's that?
-* Developer: I don’t know
+* Developer: I don't know
-* Employee: You don’t know? Is it yours?
+* Employee: You don't know? Is it yours?
-* Developer: Yes, but I don’t know how to describe what it is, you can think
+* Developer: Yes, but I don't know how to describe what it is, you can think
of it like an Arduino running GNU/Linux, back in the days before any of
the single board computer had systems to automatically detect hardware
[very long explanations].
-* Employee: What’s an Arduino [interrupting the developer]?
+* Employee: What's an Arduino [interrupting the developer]?
* Developer: [very long explanations starting].
* Employee: Sorry [interrupting the developer], bad idea, forget about my
- question, let’s again write “complicated computer hardware”.
+ question, let's again write “complicated computer hardware”.
At the end the developer got it all back, and the staff said it was the
strangest set of seized equipment they ever seen.
@@ -424,7 +424,7 @@ He then was unavailable during a full week, as he was reflashing all the
“complicated computer hardware” for security reasons. That meant that in
practice he had to reinstall Libreboot[1] or other fully free versions of
Coreboot that he used, Parabola[2] on all the desktops, laptops, servers,
-single board computers and smartphones that weren’t fully encrypted,
+single board computers and smartphones that weren't fully encrypted,
reinstalling Replicant on some other smartphones and tablets, reinstalling
LibreCMC[3] on various devices like WiFi access points, reinstalling various
microcontroller projects like frser-duino[4] on his flasher, ralim/ts100[5] on
@@ -437,13 +437,13 @@ have been a different story.
Besides about 1 month of Apache logs, and the phone number of his contacts,
not much was exposed. We also hope that Android “Factory erase” worked fine on
-the SM-N930F but we can’t know as we didn’t try to recover any data.
+the SM-N930F but we can't know as we didn't try to recover any data.
-The only device he didn’t got back was the Samsung SM-N930F, as it was
+The only device he didn't got back was the Samsung SM-N930F, as it was
probably kept or disposed by the Justice Department.
About the lost of the device, the developer commented: “I lost weeks [of work]
-because of that shitty phone”, “I don’t want that phone anywhere near me.”.
+because of that shitty phone”, “I don't want that phone anywhere near me.”.
It turned out that, in addition to his allergy to nonfree software, freedom
and privacy violations, that developer now became allergic to non-replaceable
@@ -471,32 +471,32 @@ by several real events.
* It contains several logic flaws that might have been spotted by attentive
readers or people used to the [zététique][2] techniques. For instance the
device was chosen to enable sharing work with GNU/Linux, yet, support for
- Replicant 6 is added in a way that doesn’t benefit at all code sharing
+ Replicant 6 is added in a way that doesn't benefit at all code sharing
with GNU/Linux at all as no support for that device is added in
libsamsung-ipc. The fact that it was not clearly marked as a fiction was
intended to help people test their critical thinking.
-* It’s meant to criticize the systemic causes that resulted in the issue
+* It's meant to criticize the systemic causes that resulted in the issue
with the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone. The Wikipedia article on the
[Samsung Galaxy Note 7][3] has very interesting information on the impacts
of the issue.
-* It’s interesting to see how Samsung used the control it had on such
+* It's interesting to see how Samsung used the control it had on such
devices, to remotely disable them. That control could be abused. This
could also be an issue if people have important private data in it, that
- they weren’t willing to share with companies with huge track record of
+ they weren't willing to share with companies with huge track record of
users abuse. So instead of having to adapt to every design choice of the
- smartphone industry, like non-replaceable battery, it’s sometimes better
+ smartphone industry, like non-replaceable battery, it's sometimes better
to start from limiting as much as possible the damage to users freedom and
the environment, and try to adapt that to various uses cases instead.
Here, having user removable batteries would be way more efficient than
control over users devices for avoiding such issues or dealing with
batteries that explodes or catch fire. Many manufacturers [had to recall
- batteries][4] over the years, and the impact weren’t as bad as with the
+ batteries][4] over the years, and the impact weren't as bad as with the
Galaxy Note 7.
-* As far as we know, that event didn’t make smartphone manufacturers switch
- back to user removable batteries. Samsung didn’t even add back non-
+* As far as we know, that event didn't make smartphone manufacturers switch
+ back to user removable batteries. Samsung didn't even add back non-
removable batteries to the [Galaxy Note 8][5] , which is the next model in
the Galaxy Note series. If software or hardware that was threatening some
economic or political power was the cause of issues that big, the reaction