[Infowarrior] - Black market Blackphones get sent a kill message that bricks them

[Richard Forno]

(x-posted)

Black market Blackphones get sent a kill message that bricks them

Fighting unauthorized sellers, latest OS update checks IMEI of device.

Sean Gallagher - 1/27/2017, 3:01 PM

On January 16, the makers of the Blackphone 2 warned would-be customers to stay away from eBay. Silent Circle, the company behind the privacy-focused smartphone with encrypted voice services, issued an alert about purchasing devices from unauthorized resellers. Now that alert has turned into action with the latest update to Silent OS, the Android-based operating system built for the Blackphone. Silent OS 3.0.8 will disable phones that were not purchased through Silent Circle’s approved channels.

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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/silent-circle-bricks-grey-market-blackphones-with-os-update/