[colejohnson66]

> It is damn near impossible to even make a phone call these days without some obscure binary blob or magic chips that nobody knows what they do but are able to control every aspect of a phone.

That’s always been the case for wireless phones; It’s nothing new. Your SIM card is running literal Java programs (hence where the “3 billion Java devices”) and can ask the baseband to send data for it with you having no way to know. Here’s one researcher’s diggings into it: [0] and the discussion: [1].

Some baseband processors can even DMA the main memory. IIRC, Apple has put in effort to firewall said processors.

[0]: https://scribe.rip/telecom-expert/what-is-at-t-doing-at-1111...

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29135559

[hoseja]

It's the only way the government lets the plebs carry around radio transceivers in their pockets.

[kaba0]

(Just a nit, it is actually 56 billion now)