An email to the VZW CEO

[teh_g]

I got some motivation one day, and decided to send the following email to the Verizon Wireless CEO on March 24th.

Dear Mr. Mead,

I want to start by saying that I am a dedicated customer. Verizon has great service and has always provided excellent support to me.

I am sending you an email because it has come to my attention that Verizon Wireless is asking phone manufacturers to lock the bootloader on Android phones so that end-users cannot load custom ROMs on the phones. Is this true? Would you really make manufacturers go against the very nature of Android by forcing them to operate in a locked down environment?

If Verizon Wireless is not asking manufacturers to lock down the phones, can you please keep the platform open? I know for a fact that I will never ever buy an Android phone that is locked. It is my right to install whatever software I please on a piece of hardware. I can imagine this blowing up in the future and resulting in legal action from the end-users that are being forced in to a closed hardware environment.

So please Mr. Mead, do what is best for your customers and let us install what we want on our phones.

Regards,

Geran Smith

Amazingly, it actually did something!! Here is the response I have received so far:

March 25th, 2011 - ~3:40PM
-The representative asked for more information
-She stated that she will call me back when she knows more
-Direct number is [redacted]

March 28th, 2011 - 10:37AM
-Missed a call from Rep D, wanted more info, told to call back at [redacted]

March 28th, 2011 - 5:22PM
-Called Rep D back and left a message

March 29th - 8:32AM
-Rep D called me back
-I explained in more detail what I was looking for with the bootloader
-David seemed extremely receptive and said he would escalate the issue
-He is going to send me an email so I can send him more info on the bootloader and custom OSes

March 29th - 8:48AM - email received
-Rep Dsent me his email address: [redacted]

March 29th - 8:58AM - email received

Hi Geran,
Good talking to you this morning. I have forwarded your feedback to our development department. Also, after doing a little research, it looks like Sprint is coming out with a Nexus S 4G device. It's CDMA but WiMAX instead of LTE. If this device becomes popular I can only imagine it won't take long for Verizon to develop a version of this device. It is a partnership with Samsung so I'm not quite sure how "pure" the Android OS will be but I have a feeling this will be as close as we will get in the short term.
Hope you have a great day,
Rep D
Executive Correspondent - Customer Satisfaction
Verizon Wireless

March 29th - 9:01AM - email sent

Hey Rep D , thanks for emailing me. Here are some links that I found that kind of explain a little more about the issue and how some customers feel:

Petition about the locked bootloaders from Motorola:http://www.groubal.com/motorola-lockedencrypted-bootloader-policy/

Motorola GetSatisfaction Page about the Bootloader (they had started making claims that the bootloaders will be unlocked, but have not followed through, feel free to read through the chains):http://getsatisfaction.com/motorola/topics/bootloader-1egega

Here is one of the big players in aftermarket Android OSes, Cyanogenmod, which supports 20+ phones:http://www.cyanogenmod.com/

There are even some people who are working on circumventing the bootloader via either Linux kernel workarounds, or pure bruteforce hacking:http://www.droidforums.net/forum/project-bootloader-freedom/

If you do a Google search for "Droid X Bootloader" or "Droid X Bootloader Locked" you will find all kinds of things, including a huge amount of links to a hoax a few weeks ago about the bootloader being hacked open.

Look for some information on the Bionic bootloader or the Thunderbolt bootloader. You will see a large number of results asking if the bootloader is locked or not. Look at how excited people were when we learned the Xoom could be unlocked. The locked bootloader is a big deal to the people who care. Hopefully you can do something for us, even if it is confirming that we won't be able to unlock phones ever.

Thanks a lot for your help. If I find anymore interesting threads or posts, I can send them to you.

There are a

Regards,

Geran Smith

-----------------------------------------

I am going to update this as I hear new things from the executive support. I don't have much faith that anything will come from this, but it is better than nothing.

 

[cpjr]

Has it been determined that Verizon is the culprit? I was under the impression it is the manufacturers doing this on their own? Excuse me if Im misinformed, but if not, Verizon has nothing to do with it.

 

[teh_g]

Has it been determined that Verizon is the culprit? I was under the impression it is the manufacturers doing this on their own? Excuse me if Im misinformed, but if not, Verizon has nothing to do with it.

It hasn't been confirmed or denied. I figured asking Motorola was doing nothing, so asking Verizon might help.

 

[teh_g]

Updated with some emails from the representative.

 

[RETG]

My questions are:
Why would this cause future legal action? If a person knows it is locked before purchase, that person knows what he/she is purchasing.

What attorney would take this, unless it was a class action, and then only the attorney(ies) make the money? The plaintiffs get a little token.

What person is willing to spend thousands on a suit againt Verizon in regard to a phone?

Just curious...

 

[teh_g]

My questions are:
Why would this cause future legal action? If a person knows it is locked before purchase, that person knows what he/she is purchasing.

What attorney would take this, unless it was a class action, and then only the attorney(ies) make the money? The plaintiffs get a little token.

What person is willing to spend thousands on a suit againt Verizon in regard to a phone?

Just curious...

Legal action: I didn't know it was locked before purchase. I was under the impression that I would be able to easily tinker with the open source software on my open source phone operating system (I use easily to mean "in a way that does not involve hacking or using exploits").

Attorney: I would go in for a class action suite. I bet the 3,000 or so people that signed a petition for it would be somewhat interested.

What person...: I don't know. If I had extra money, I would. I want to fight for our rights.

 

[cpjr]

My questions are:
Why would this cause future legal action? If a person knows it is locked before purchase, that person knows what he/she is purchasing.

What attorney would take this, unless it was a class action, and then only the attorney(ies) make the money? The plaintiffs get a little token.

What person is willing to spend thousands on a suit againt Verizon in regard to a phone?

Just curious...

It wont and cant. A company has the legal right to do so, yeah maybe they are pissing a lot of people off, but thats not against the law.

PS- And about Android being an open platform, again, that is such a grey area that it would never stand up in court, not to mention that it would include not only (possibly) Verizon, but also Google and every manufacturer.

 

[teh_g]

My questions are:
Why would this cause future legal action? If a person knows it is locked before purchase, that person knows what he/she is purchasing.

What attorney would take this, unless it was a class action, and then only the attorney(ies) make the money? The plaintiffs get a little token.

What person is willing to spend thousands on a suit againt Verizon in regard to a phone?

Just curious...

It wont and cant. A company has the legal right to do so, yeah maybe they are pissing a lot of people off, but thats not against the law.

PS- And about Android being an open platform, again, that is such a grey area that it would never stand up in court.

Meh, someone is talking to me and seems to be interested. It doesn't hurt to get information from them.

 

[cpjr]

Not at all, you never know!

 

[teh_g]

Not at all, you never know!

The fact that he escalated it to their development department makes me feel better. I would rather have a confirmation of yes or no then live in constant fear of buying a phone with a locked bootloader again.

 

[Backnblack]

Not at all, you never know!

The fact that he escalated it to their development department makes me feel better. I would rather have a confirmation of yes or no then live in constant fear of buying a phone with a locked bootloader again.

But no one knows if they are BS'ing you....

 

[teh_g]

The fact that he escalated it to their development department makes me feel better. I would rather have a confirmation of yes or no then live in constant fear of buying a phone with a locked bootloader again.

But no one knows if they are BS'ing you....

He could be, but if his support organization is anything like mine, he isn't allowed to BS me. Maybe I just hope too much, but I have some faith in him.

 

[KHeeney5]

This is good. You have to start somewhere. At least Verizon is listening. Maybe verizon will stop buying locked phones from Moto, and force them to unlock them..

 

[DJxPanda]

My questions are:
Why would this cause future legal action? If a person knows it is locked before purchase, that person knows what he/she is purchasing.

What attorney would take this, unless it was a class action, and then only the attorney(ies) make the money? The plaintiffs get a little token.

What person is willing to spend thousands on a suit againt Verizon in regard to a phone?

Just curious...

It wont and cant. A company has the legal right to do so, yeah maybe they are pissing a lot of people off, but thats not against the law.

PS- And about Android being an open platform, again, that is such a grey area that it would never stand up in court, not to mention that it would include not only (possibly) Verizon, but also Google and every manufacturer.

Actually sir there is some legal action here. I believe that Its been determined by the courts that full phone modification is legal and that companies can not do something to the hardware to prevent such modding. Unfortunately apple found a loophole where they can void ur warranty. That os perfectly within their rights. But what moto is doing by locking the bootloader is in direct conflict with the decision made by the courts. They can say its due to the interest of the end user, but honestly, a large majority of people are rofoting their phones and such anyways. Regardless. Legal action is legitimet, and a class action law suit is perfect. There have been a ton of more ridiculous law suits before, this one would actually be a serious one.

 

[teh_g]

I agree, if nothing goes through, I would totally be down for a class action lawsuit