The cost of privacy: 3 years support for high-end Samsung phones, but what about the rest?

MyPhone is not a random manufacturer that happens to be using the open source Android OS, but an official Android certified partner. PI, along with several other organisations, is currently pressuring Google to take action against this kind of exploitation in Android certified devices. Google should refuse to certify a device where manufacturers or vendors have attempted to exploit users in this way, while making use of the company’s credibility.

Our demands are not without echos, the Android users community has stepped forward to demand that Google provide 5 years of support and updates for their Pixel phones. The hope is that, if Google takes this step, other phone manufacturer’s will follow their lead and extend product support for five years.

Google was the first company to commit to three years support for their pixel phones, and Samsung’s announcement only follows this precedent.

“We thought three years was great because nobody else was offering it. In hindsight, we shouldn’t have looked at it this way. Google controls Android and its update cycle, and in this regard, it has no competition. Google offering only three years of updates for a phone whose software was written by another part of the company is actually ridiculous.”
Jerry Hildenbrand for Android Central

While this is a move in the right direction, and other phone manufacturers should follow their lead in extending support for a minimum of 3 years, companies need to make sure these safeguards are in place for all their models.

Keeping current with system updates is the single most important thing a company can do to keep your phone safe and performing at their best. Software updates are important because they often include critical patches to security vulnerabilities. In fact, many of the more harmful malware attacks we see take advantage of software vulnerabilities in common applications, like your operating system. These programs require regular updates to keep safe and stable.

We’ve seen many low cost android partner phones that are being sold with out of date versions of the Android Operating Sysytem, that are filled with serious known vulnerabilities, which have been patched in subsequent versions.

So while this is a welcome first step, PI is not impressed by Samsung’s announcement. Even though providing support for some models is better than no support for any model, the announcement is still deeply elitist.

It is ultimately a public acknowledgment that cheaper phones don’t deserve the same high security and privacy standards as more expensive device. Device manufacturers need to provide decent support for all their phones to ensure the security and privacy of all their users, these necessities should not become a privilege. Samsung should be making these commitments for all the devices it manufactures and sells. Updating and patching shouldn’t be dependent on the price tag of a product.

This isn’t a Samsung specific problem - too many phone manufacturers think that people that buy their cheaper phones deserve less privacy and less security than people who buy their most expensive models. This is simply untrue. Privacy and security are a minimum standard not a luxury add-on.