[HN Gopher] The PinePhone modem SDK: a free-software baseband fi... ___________________________________________________________________ The PinePhone modem SDK: a free-software baseband firmware Author : csdvrx Score : 36 points Date : 2023-07-09 22:18 UTC (41 minutes ago) (HTM) web link (github.com) (TXT) w3m dump (github.com) | my123 wrote: | Note: it's not a free software baseband FW as you'd expect from | that being said. | | What the PinePhone does is using a low end Qualcomm SoC as the | modem (which has a CPU core and all, and runs a stripped-down | Android in the stock configuration). | | This just replaces that part which you can already edit on your | own Android phone, but doesn't touch the actual modem bits at | all, which remain the provided binary. | csdvrx wrote: | You're right and I'm wrong! | | I'm currently editing my summary to clarify. | | Still, I believe having full control on the firmware of the | phone modem is at least as important as having root on the | phone - otherwise, the firmware can say "location off? no | problem!" while continuing to get GPS position locks + transmit | the position inside UDP packets that won't be visible to the | CPU running the android kernel and communicating to the | firmware. | | EDIT: actually, you are partly wrong when you say "This just | replaces that part which you can already edit on your own | Android phone": many android phones use a modem module to have | certification in different markets. | | So you can't replace the modem firmware on most android phones | I'm familiar with. | | Don't be confused by the modem using adb and fastboot like the | android phones: it has its own software stack, and runs its own | OS a bit like Intel ME or AMD PSP on PCs. | newhouseb wrote: | Modern LTE/5G provides pretty accurate location out of the | box without GPS so if you really wanted to hide you would | really need to just shut off the entire modem. Fortunately, | the PinePhone has hardware switches to do this! | csdvrx wrote: | Following the discussion on illegal cell tracking where several | comments mentioned the firmware can be a problem, here's a link | to a free-software firmware. | | I believe this is important, because on Android the firmware | controls the network connection (and GPS, etc). It has its own | embedded Linux, flash and CPU so even if you have root and run a | firewall on android, it can send packets that will not be visible | to the android kernel. | | Most firmware have adb and fastboot, which can be used to replace | what's running there by something you can recompile and audit. If | you don't like it, you can also restore the initial firmware, for | ex: https://github.com/Biktorgj/quectel_eg25_recovery | | EDIT: replaced baseband by firmware. I confused one for the | other. For context as to why it matters, see | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36658078 ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2023-07-09 23:00 UTC)