On: Massachusetts health notifications app installed w...

[cblconfederate]

The mechanism is google's so that point is moot. There should be a physical switch for updates just like some cameras have physical covers

[beprogrammed → cblconfederate]

This is just software updating software, so a switch would just be a token gesture, unless it wasn't, in which case you need to have the software be loaded from some ROM and the ROM only writable when the switch was activated, in which case that would be a fantastic device.

[cblconfederate → beprogrammed]

all diskettes used to have read-only locks

[beprogrammed → cblconfederate]

That's a good point.

But it also brings up the false sense of security, a floppy drive could just choose to ignore the switch and write anyways, just as the phone could secretly write the firmware.

[account42 → cblconfederate]

... which does not actually make the medium non-writable but only acts as an indicator to the drive, which with the right firmware could just ignore it.