10 years later, Google still has the scary ability to remotely control a phone

Ten years is a long time. Long enough to forget that Google – and Apple from elsewhere – has the ability to control certain parts of your phone via the Internet. And maybe change things quietly without your permission.

But Google made a very public mistake last week, and this again raises doubt.

Last week, Android users began reporting that their phone's battery saver feature had mysteriously turned on, whether or not their batteries required backup. The fully loaded devices have begun to limit themselves, interrupting updates in the background, apparently due to a bug in the Android P update, as reported by Android Police .

Only it was not a bug. According to one of the official accounts of the company Reddit, Google itself was responsible. According to the statement, the company was conducting "an in-house experiment to test the battery-saving features that were inadvertently deployed to a larger number of users than expected."

If you have not followed Google closely over the last decade, you might be surprised that a company has so much control. This is especially surprising when you consider that phones are not made by Google – the essential phone, Nokia 7 Plus and OnePlus 6, according to Android Police – were also affected by the experience.

But if you've been following Android since the first day (and I mean the very first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1/ HTC Dream, introduced in October 2008), remember that Android had at least one circuit breaker From the very beginning. The company only used it twice, which we remember in 2010 and 2011, to completely destroy applications deemed malicious.

In 2008, phone bloggers discovered the Android shutdown switch by wringing their hands a similar discovered in the iPhone. It's not clear if Apple has ever used this one, but Steve Jobs felt it was a necessary evil: "We would be irresponsible for not having such leverage," said the co-founder of Apple at the Wall Street Journal.

It's not as if Google's Battery Saver flip-flop was a big problem. Apple has recently been trapped in the performance of older phones to make up for their aging batteries. In comparison, Google was content to change an annoying setting for what, a day? And there is no reason to believe that either company would intentionally do anything devious by degrading, for example, the battery of a phone to buy you a new one.

It is in their best interest to keep the owners happy, and many researchers and savvy users are waiting to send them back if they do anything suspicious. But that kind of thing certainly gives more ammunition to the conspiracy theorists.

For the first time in years, the mistakes of these companies remind us that such a breach of trust is potentially just a click away and you wonder what other kinds of measures they can remotely control and what types of warranties are in place. to prevent employees from abusing this power.

Google has not responded to requests for comments.