Tell HN: Google Intercepting SMS | Hacker News Reader

Tell HN: Google Intercepting SMS

6 pointsversion_five8 comments

I'm probably late to this. Today, my Samsung phone started intercepting my SMS conversations to provide "chat" features: the typing dots and read receipts. It did it without my permission and without me installing any updated. In the settings there was a (I'm paraphrasing) "let google steal your data to enable rich chat" popup, that I clicked no to, and it appears to have gone away. I know iPhone already does this, personally I don't want it, and it's super unethical to just start intercepting SMS without opt-in.

View on HN

Are you sure you aren't experiencing RCS? the upgrade from SMS that vendors have been rolling out

Try searching "SMS RCS Samsung"

You're right, I just googled (actually Kagi'd) it and found:

  With Google’s rollout of RCS as Android’s primary texting platform for Android Messages, many Android phones already come with Android Messages installed. A partnership between Google and Samsung allows RCS features to work seamlessly between the Samsung Messages and Android Messages apps, the default SMS apps on their devices. You can also go to the Google Play Store to download Messages yourself.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-rcs-messaging/

So that explains what happened, it still doesn't excuse forcing it, without permission or notice, on people who are using an open protocol

RCS is an open protocol, in fact it was developed with the GSM association https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Communication_Services

You seem to want every single reason to dislike anything Google has ever helped to make, rather than doing actual research into what some of these things are.

It's an open protocol but it's not an open system, just like SMS. You can't just set up your own RCS provider like you can with the web, email, IRC, etc. So it's at least a little misleading to call it "open".

The fact that it's an open protocol doesn't mean that it's okay to opt you into it without your permission.

Install AOSP keyboard, Signal.

Use GrapheneOS, or throw money/time/love to Pine64.

There's no way we can fight the people who have the money to buy laws, so help their opponents.

Signal is just moving from one centralized PII tracking entity to another.

A real example of an open, privacy respecting opponent to something like SMS is Matrix, imo.

When someone makes "Don't be evil" their motto, it's obviously been lurking in their mind for a while.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com