[paulgdp]

To be fair, when sending a Pixel for reparations, Google very clearly and explicitly asks to factory_reset the phone.

I personally didn't reset it when I sent my Pixel 3 to fix the charging port because my Pixel was fully encrypted.

All Pixels are encrypted by default as long as you have any kind of lock method enabled (PIN, password, shape...).

I don't really understand how this person got his files in cleartext and accessible.

[dotancohen]

Another comment quotes:

  > About a month ago my wife broke her pixel phone. It couldn't be turned on so
  > we couldn't wipe it. We contact Google and used the device care to get an RMA.

[Tagbert]

In this case, the phone would not turn on prior to repair and could not be wiped.

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

How did the person conducting repair power it on and unlock it then?

Edit: I mean how did they bypass the lock screen?

[Johnny555]

Sometimes letting the battery drain completely will clear a hung phone (which is like the old "take the battery out for 5 minutes, then try it again" trick). Or the service center knew the magic buttons to press to get it to boot. Or the battery was bad. Or one of a million other reasons that a phone can fail in a way that makes it appear dead, but a service tech knows how to get it running.

[OldManAndTheCpp]

They repaired it, presumably.

[agilob]

>All Pixels are encrypted by default as long as you have any kind of lock method enabled (PIN, password, shape...).

No lock method?

[2OEH8eoCRo0]

That's what I think. Either no lock method, they're lying, or there's an unknown exploit or backdoor. Either way I'd be interested to know the outcome of this. As a Pixel user it's concerning.

[weswpg]

by repairing it

[nhumrich]

They probably fixed it first

[open1414]

maybe no password?

[willcipriano]

That's the sort of confidence I get from the DMV, they require you to pay by check beacuse the person issuing IDs with all our personal information can't be trusted with nine dollars in cash.

[KZeillmann]

My impression from the (now deleted) text is that the phone wasn't booting or in a state where it could be factory reset, at least not without considerable effort.

[rootusrootus]

It is possible the victim made some bad choices. It does not make it fair for Google employees/contractors/whatever to violate their privacy and access their personal information, then post it online.

[cuu508]

If the phone does not turn on, I guess I could "wipe" it by opening it up and drilling through every chip I can find. Google would have harder time repairing it then but that's their problem ;-)