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Comment by devsda | Hacker News Reader

Here in India, samsung phones come with the following label on its boxes

> For every unique simcard used, some information is collected via automatic SMS(operator tariff apply)

Those messages are apparently not shown in the sent list. Some folks have complained about them being sent while roaming internationally and incurring high charges.

So yes, Samsung will do these things and is open about it in places where most people including government don't understand the importance or care about privacy.

In places where people do care , they will rely on these stealthy tricks to collect information.

PS: If this is not a data grab and they have perfectly good technical reasons to do this without consent, I am interested in knowing those reasons.

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> So yes, Samsung will do these things and is open about it in places where most people including government don't understand the importance or care about privacy.

Why would samsung bother with the warning where the government doesn't care about privacy? No company would waste resources on such labels if the government doesn't care? I'd bet that samsung is putting these warning labels because of government requirements. Which likely means samsung is collecting data for the indian government as well as for itself.

> In places where people do care , they will rely on these stealthy tricks to collect information.

Typical mega-corporate behavior.

> PS: If this is not a data grab and they have perfectly good technical reasons to do this without consent, I am interested in knowing those reasons.

I'd like to know as well.

> If this is not a data grab and they have perfectly good technical reasons to do this without consent, I am interested in knowing those reasons.

Not saying it isn't being used for a data grab (knowing India's lack of enforcement it probably is) but SIM and IMEI verification is now done in India now under CEIR [0][1]

If you want to trace a stolen phone, the IMEI is known by the Telco so it can be traced back.

[0] - https://icdr.ceir.gov.in/ivs/

[1] - https://www.ceir.gov.in/Home/index.jsp

Isn't that the job of a network operator and not device manufacturer?

Operator has that information and they can and do provide it to the govt. I don't see why a phone manufacturer needs to know that information.

The IMEI verification is done over SMS according to CEIR documentation.

This seems to be CYA by Samsung India to prevent consumers from suing them for a DoT forced SIM charge.

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