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Comment by brainfire | Hacker News Reader

So you expect them in the future to seek out the higher priced legitimate product?

I expect they will avoid the brand that turned their hardware into a brick.

I'm saying it doesn't matter if they avoid a brand if the alternative is that they will buy a knock-off. Neither option represents any value to the actual manufacturer- avoiding negative PR from people with knock-offs might actually be preferable.

Well, I've never owned a Blackphone and after reading this article, I certainly never will.

This isn't a gameboy. If you want toy security I can sell you a phone painted black. But if you want to stay alive when the Syrian police are hunting your people you might want to rethink that.

I know people click through warnings. If that warning could keep them alive, as a dev I'd better do something that'll get their attention.

Also, if they only softly bricked these phones the counterfeiters would just click-through the warnings and sell the phones that way. They have to essentially burn them, for the safety of people who need to be their customers.

No, I'd just want an unbricked, functional, phone. The point is if you buy a $100 phone from wherever and it works, then it suddenly gets bricked due to some company pushing an update, that company is being a dick.

Not if they're saving you from being shot. One of the features of a secure-phone is failing secure.

If you want a regular phone running whatsapp, use that.

It literally is a regular phone with some goodies. Disable the goodies, maybe.

No, critically it comes with an off switch for when you find it's been compromised.

If you didn't want that, there were cheaper phones - even counterfeit.

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