workgoodwhy dont android phones have a bios like computers and be able to load a generic arm linux iso or windows one,or be easily rooted?
Phones evolved into pocket PCs but they were and still are primarily radios. Radios that YOU personally aren’t licensed to operate, the phone manufacturer/carrier is. Open source OSs would allow users to operate those radios, which means they could develop communications using cell carrier bands without a license. Imagine meshtastic at 50x the bitrate and everybody and their grandma already has the hardware. Why would people keep paying $60/mo to have every communication recorded and given to the government?
The current telecommunications system is the most powerful mass surveillance tool to ever exist. That’s not something that will be dismantled easily.
Toes♀That’s a bit of a huge stretch.
People can load custom operating systems on their computer all they want without turning their wifi and Bluetooth adapter into a two way software defined radio.
Every radio band is subject to their own rules.
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth transmit on frequencies that are “license by rule,” where the FCC license to transmit is granted to everyone who follows the Part 15 rules about the technical details. So nobody needs a separate license to use wifi or Bluetooth, and the devices themselves are only subject to certain technical restrictions, like maximum transmit power and the like.
Ham radios transmit on bands that allow for a license for anyone who can pass the test and pay the fee.
Cell phones operate on frequencies and bands that have much stricter licensing rules, and the devices are certified to follow the technical rules under pretty much all circumstances. They go through much more thorough testing than the radios capable of transmitting on amateur bands or license by rule bands.
I understand that. It’s just that this entire argument doesn’t qualify. The OS has no out of spec influence over the modem due to its design. Its entirely self-contained component with its own firmware and driver stack. The OS is at the mercy of the modem’s firmware and that firmware prevents this exact scenario described.