yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Srambo217:
Here is the email I sent to Lowell.McAdam@verizonwireless.com:

Dear Mr. McAdams,

I have been a loyal customer of Verizon Wireless for quite sometime now. I have come to the decision that after my current contract cycle ends I will no longer be a customer. This decision has been influenced by many factors; discontinuing Unlimited Data Plans, charging an upgrade fee, but the final straw is Verizon's decision to not unlock the bootloader for the Samsung Galaxy SIII. Myself, and many many more were under the impression that the phone would in fact be unlocked allowing us enthusiast to use our devices to their fullest potential. The fact that all other carriers that offer the exact same device unlocked only adds insult to injury. I am aware that Samsung will offer an unlocked device at a premium cost, and had this been made evident at my time of purchase I (and many many others) would have opted for that version.

>

> I truly feel betrayed by a company I have been loyal to for years and have recommended to family and friends. I also feel like the Galaxy SIII was advertised wrongfully, and a that this will not be easily forgotten by the hundreds of Android enthusiasts who preordered the device prior to launch.

>

> If you are at all able to influence a change in this upset by convincing a bootloader unlocker be release for public consumption I would be swayed to change my negative opinions about the company right now. I hope you take this into consideration.

–Jared ******

**********

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

I will file and FCC complaint when I get home from work.

We should reach out to blogs like @androidcentral @DroidDog @slashgear @verge via twitter and try and get them to mention the revolt so others unaware of these boards can file complaints, send emails/tweets, make phone calls ect.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Div033:
Not sure how well this would hold up because they never strictly advertised it as the same GS3 as the other carriers, nor did they ever say it came unlocked.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] indyssee:
Change.org might be a good approach, too. They've had success with their online petitions to get companies to change their policies when enough signatures get signed. It would at least be one way to reach a broader audience. I know I've signed petitions that i would never have known about until they sent me an email asking me to sign for a good cause (which I think ours is and very justified).
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] schmaltzy:
Someone already created a petition for this very problem.....it's not on change.org, but it's a petition. I signed it....the way I see, it can't hurt to try!

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1756483
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] arqbrulo:
Hey guys, how about the EFF (eff.org). They have the backing, expertise and the resources.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] myredfast:
When you enter Odin mode on the phone you greeted by a message that warns you about installing a "Custom OS" and the harm that will come you way. I'm assuming that this is the message that you get on all US variants. Then it tells you that if you want to cancel this operation to push volume down, or if you would like to continue on to install a "Custom OS" push volume up. Well, can't you almost consider this a defect due to the fact that a feature that comes on the phone is not working correctly? And why would this option be there in the first place? Just a thought
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] LLStarks:
http://www.change.org/petitions/verizon-wireless-and-samsung-unlock-the-bootloader-of-the-galaxy-s3

Made this last week
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] densetsu86:
No, but if you never play you never win. And I did say highly unlikely. So yeah. Not optimistic but not pessimistic either. And don't care since I'm not going to be buying a locked one either.

Just saying why do you have to be pessimistic? Again your math is for all combinations in the aes and going through all of them yeah it would take that long (although given the rate of how computers are getting more and more powerful by the month and your math does not include a much more powerful computer other the the quantum computer (which is in the works btw its just in the state as the earliest computers before we figured out about binary that made it all work) which you passed off more as a joke.

Cracking any code key no matter what it is or how big relies mostly on luck on how long it takes. Sure aes is one of the most advanced and hardest to crack but its not impossible.

Also for the lottery question again no I don't but a couple of years ago I went the mall to buy myself dinner walked and I walked pass the counter that does processing of lottery tickets later that night I was watching news and the winning lottery ticket was purchased at the mall I frequent and they gave out the time was about the same time as I was getting my dinner. Dude won a few million dollars now tell me good sir what is the probability in that happening?

About the same as cracking aes. Not likely but if never do/play you never win.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Art Vandelay:
So just to clarify for a n00b:

The Verizon GS3 can be rooted, but the bootloader is locked, meaning no custom ROMs, correct?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ftmaniac948:
Almost. We can have touchwiz roms, but until kexec is mastered down, we can't boot kernels which stops aosp roms such as cm9/10 and aokp.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] eschelon:
The locked down VZW S3 bootloader means you cannot currently flash a custom kernel, splash screen, or radio via the bootloader or Odin.

But you CAN flash a custom ROM or recovery since the recovery and system partitions are not currently locked down. In fact, the current process we use to gain root is by flashing a custom ROM. And a handful of users are already running alpha builds of CM10 (Jelly Bean).

There is also a workaround which allows you to boot a custom kernel via the recovery partition by chainloading kernels. This process is called kexec. But you still cannot flash a full kernel (boot.img) via the bootloader at this time.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] iamlilysdad:
I sent the same kind of letter to him about something before. He replied:

"Cool story bro"
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NFSP G35:
Well, since you asked...

The odds of winning a lottery jackpot with 6 numbers drawn from balls numbered 1-19 is in the range of 13,000,000:1

If there was as few as 10 people that played the lotto that visited the mall, the odds go down to 1,300,000:1 that there would be somebody in the mall to win "a few million dollars"

In case you're wondering, this is pretty close to the same odds you'll die in a fireworks accident.

Nope. It's not even in the same set of numbers.

Comparing the two is roughly the same thing as saying Jupiter is about the same size as a golfball.

Again, completely flawed thinking and no understanding of probability in general.

People win the lottery, it happens all the time...

Because there are over 7billion people on earth, things that are quite literal "Million to one shots" actually happen all the time.

This is exactly the point,

256bit AES has never ever ever been broken by brute force

256bit AES has never ever ever been broken by "a lucky guess"

256bit AES has never ever ever been broken by mathematical decryption (without the key)

It has simply never been broken, and statistically never will be. There's a greater chance of the sun exploding tomorrow morning.

There are only two ways to break it:

1- a radically different form of computing (that would render the device in question... along with every other computer on earth as pretty much moot)

2- steal the key from somewhere

There is information encrypted in 256bit AES that carries WAY more weight than a bootloader on some random over-glorified toy (let's be real here people, it's a cell phone for crying out loud)

You really think that with all the power and will to crack codes of any major government on earth, yet nobody has cracked it, that a few dozen people on an internet forum can just MacGyver together a few home PCs and do it? If so, we've really missed our calling piddling with phones, there's international banks to be toppled and government secrets to be sold here people! :silly:

The very thought is beyond delusional.

We're not talking about finding a needle in a haystack here... we're talking about finding one specific needle on the entire Continent of Africa... that's buried... while blindfolded... and you have no hands...

If you really want to help, here's a more practical scenario:

Take a spoon out of your kitchen drawer... go dig a spoonful of dirt out of your back yard and see if you find a diamond, if you do, sell it and donate the cash to some of the developers to try and find the most feasible workaround.

Because simple probability is, your are trillions upon billions of times more likely to find a diamond just randomly laying in your back yard than you are to crack 256AES by picking crap at random. So putting effort into it is absolutely the single least helpful thing you could do.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Art Vandelay:
Then why doesn't Blazer have a ROM for verizon like I have on my Sprint one? It's a touchwiz ROM, no?

Thanks for the help.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] nosympathy:
don't know about you, but I have booted CM9 with an AOSP kernel on my Verizon galaxy SIII.

You cannot flash a custom kernel too the boot partition, but you can to the recovery partition. Or use kexec. Either way.

It already works, I have booted CM9 that may not have data, but supports phone calls and texts. Works like a champ minus data.

This whole locked bootloader thing really isn't a "huge" issue, it would just make life much easier.

Least that is the way I have come to see it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] droidstyle:
Exactly!!
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Imatoasta:
Tired of jumping through hoops just to use the device that I paid for the way I want. Tmobiles monthly is looking good.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Ker~Man:
I don't care how cheap T-Mobile is, they (their service in general, lack of LTE, etc...) completely sucks! Whoever is with T-Mobile is with them only because: A) They cannot afford any better - honest truth, not a shot at anybody, or B) They literally don't know the difference between a pink crotch rocket with a chick on it, compared to a lame-looking dude on an old, pieced-together clunker. Only difference is (here's the kicker) is that the way the commercial is portrayed is 180 degrees opposite the truth! AT&T should be the pink bike (and chick), and the dude on clunker should be T-Mobile. All three of the big's outside T-Mobile have them looking like Grandma on the basketball court inside the penetentiary!

-End RANT
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Schaweet:
CVPCS got data working on CM. Who cares about the locked bootloader.

Sent from my SGS3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] ExodusC:
Source?

Not that I don't believe you, I just want to see.

I hope that CVPCS's work with kexec will allow us to get CyanogenMod official status.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Schaweet:
He posted it on his personal twitter. 4G is a little unstable but he's proved it can work with a custom kernel. Now he is just working on getting it stable. I am pretty sure that is the point of his work. If it wasn't going to be officially supported, I doubt he'd be doing all this and submitting commits for approval.

Well, it seems we have a working 3G/4G connection on d2vzw:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/105844328547178759011/posts/AZzJCc2qc6V

Sent from my SGS3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] narsciso:
CVPCS to the rescue again. He is who gave all the droidx users new life.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] cyberleader:
Locked Phone

Welp there are ways to get around these problems. For one there are a lot of hackers working on this problems. They don't do it for money most of the time as much as they do it just for the simple fact that they can. If you got an upgrade SG3 and you were able to retain your unlimited DATA plan. You can keep your data plan as long as you never use Verizon to upgrade your phone again and outright buy a new one for 600 bucks. In another 2 years when my Sg3 Is ready for retirement Im simple going to buy the DEV Version of the phone I want and transfer my old data plan to the new phone. I now They might just outright terminate my data plan. But as of right now VERSION customer service told me I can keep my unlimited data plan indefinitely as long as I never upgrade again, or I outright buy the phone in the future.

This is what I plan to do. I figure in 3 months or less there will be a full Cyanogen mod out for the SG3 and these genius hackers will be on the next locked device to cut their teeth on.

The reason I even found out about this was the pure fact that I told them I didn't want the upgrade and I was happy with my hacked HTC INCREDIBLE. Honestly This new SG3 doesn't play hulu and the wireless tethering was a pure ***** to get working correctly.Not to mention the constant pop ups and adds as well total garbage rom. The Lady who called me divulged all this info and as long as I pay on time and don't use their upgrade process they wont change my contract. A new one will be created the next time I use their upgrade process. Witch I will never use as I want to keep my grand fathered Unlimited DATA plan.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] inm8num2:
Hey guys, I'm sorry for the noob-ish question and hope it's appropriate for the thread.

Right now, how do the prospects of being able to load custom ROMs for future Android versions look? Jelly Bean, for example. Given how the bootloader research, development, and hacking are going, is there a good chance that GS3 owners won't be stuck waiting for those long, months-delayed OTA updates from Verizon and Samsung? Or does the encryption of the bootloader make it unlikely that such custom ROMs will be possible?

I've been following this forum and others on the web and have nothing but admiration and respect for the devs. I don't doubt their abilities or effort, but as someone relatively new to these discussions I'm having a hard time figuring out what the practical expectations for rooting and custom ROMs for new Android versions are. Especially since there are differing opinions on what the progress so far means, and what the ceiling is due to the encrypted bootloader.

Thanks.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Div033:
People in the IRC channel have already installed CM10 on their VZW GS3s. It still has lots of bugs (data is working though) as CM10 is still brand new in general and isn't a daily driver for any device yet except maybe the Galaxy Nexus. I've been informed by people who know what they're talking about that the current Kexec method of loading custom kernels/roms has no drawbacks other than the need to hijack the boot sequence, resulting in a longer boot-up time.

At this point in time the biggest perk to unlocking the bootloader outside of having a standard boot sequence is to piss off Verizon.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] tpike:
One of the reasons this is a big deal is principle. It's supposed to be open. That's how Samsung does things, normally. Also, there are functionality that you won't fully achieve otherwise, custom boot animations, oc/uv.

As far as the aes question goes, it's not always necessary to crack the encryption to bypass a security check. Think about cutting off someone's thumb to bypass a finger print scanner. There is a possibility we can bring the key over and get past the check and then load what we want.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Div033:
We can currently do both those things with kexec. I'm using a custom boot animation and invisiblek has a OC AOSP kernel that several people have used. In fact, they've reported little to no heat increase after overclocking, which is a pretty cool deal IMO.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] OldManJames:
I was clarifying because unlike gsm networks they can control it. You cant just buy devices and use them on cdma networks like you can gsm. Thats what I was pointing out. The fact that vzw isnt the one selling it is kinda irrelevant because they are sanctioning it.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] tpike:
That's great to hear! Definitely a great piece of functionality. Still not the same as doing it directly from boot.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Xparent ICS Tapatalk 2
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Coop9:
Seriously?

We are not being pessimistic. We are being realistic. You are not being optimistic, you are being unrealistic.

The reality is a 256bit AES key is not going to be broken in this phone's life time.

That's it, done. Not going to happen. No one is even going to start, as it is a complete and utter waste of resources.

It doesn't mean we won't have a way to unlock the bootloader. Good work is being done. It's quite possible they will find an exploit as has been done elsewhere.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NegativeOne:
Guys. This thread is about unlocking the bootloader. Every day we generate 5 pages or more of nonsense about people talking about litigating or otherwise harassing VZW. Please just freaking take it elsewhere. Mods have asked this of you already.

I don't agree with your approach, but that's your business. We are all trying to reach the same goal, but we can do it in separate threads. *PLEASE* stop posting here about:

1) guessing the unlock code

2) petitions

3) fcc complaints

4) talking to VZW / Samsung and complaining
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Schaweet:
This is off topic but I get your principle post. People need to get over that. It is their network and the can do what they want. Be pissed all you want and try and reason it out. It doesn't matter. If you don't like it, move on to another network. It's really that simple. Not trying to be a jerk, but all this ragging on Verizon and threats of lawsuits and such is pathetic. I promise you their corporate lawyers can easily win the Block C argument as well. It's time people get over it.

We will have CM10 and the auto boot sequence will get kanged into other roms as well.

Sent from my SGS3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Hypnosis4U2NV:
I won't lie, I was disappointed when I found out that only the Verizon model had its bootloader locked.. After a while I figured it still wasn't a bad choice to use my upgrade on this phone considering I was getting it subsidized, keeping my unlimited data and moving to 4G service.. I also realized that there are few phones from all providers that ship completely unlocked.. Even HTC which helps customers unlock their bootloader on most of their models, still keep their units S-ON and that becomes increasingly difficult to circumvent as newer models are introduced..

I find it hilarious that people's expectations are so unrealistic.. It's only been two weeks and people are returning their phones and switching providers because of a locked bootloader.. Folks, this isn't something new just on the Verizon network or just limited to Samsung devices.. This device probably has or will have the most development of all devices currently available across all provider networks.. Given time, I expect to see great things accomplished for this phone..

A locked bootloader doesn't mean development cannot continue for it.. New information about the internal workings are being discovered just because people are dissecting every part of the phone and its internal command structure..

Whether or not the bootloader is ever unlocked on this phone, it's probably the best phone out the box I have purchased.. And that's something to be happy about..
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] trafalger888:
Well said and I agree...look at what people with the x2 have to deal with with the licked bootloader this is way way better than that with a locked bootloader and from what I have read the research that is going on with the devs here seems to be promising...patience can and will help here
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] NedDasty:
I hope you read my last post on this subject. You simply have absolutely zero idea of the scale here. You're conflating "there's a chance" with "there's a high probability." The word chance refers to a probability that falls on a continuum from 0 to 100%. It can be anywhere in between. And the numbers we're in right now for cracking AES is such a small number that you can't even possible fathom it. At all. Don't even try.

Here's a good analogy: pick the entire solar system ranging from the sun out to Neptune's orbit, which has a radius of about 3 billion miles. Somewhere in this entire space, I'm going to hide a speck of dust that I've grabbed from your household and hide it completely at random. You have to guess the exact coordinates, down to millimeter precision, of that speck of dust. GO!

Those numbers are equivalent to about a factor of 10. So--playing the "guessing game" is totally goddamn useless. That's the absolute end. We should waste 0% of our effort trying to crack the AES, and instead should attempt other methods that avoid that sector all together.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] eschelon:
We still want the bootloader.

Yes we have methods and workarounds now that work, but it's a somewhat janky setup compared to other S3 devices out there and this will prohibit us from ever getting to the point where VZW users could flash a custom, multi-carrier GS3 ROM that works on all S3 devices down the road. Plus we are still unable to flash radios, splash screens, etc.

The setup we're using now isn't even a back door; it's more like we broke into the next door neighbors basement, dug a tunnel, and came up through our cellar. It was incredibly creative and it works great for now, but someone on the inside at Verizon/Samsung could easily write 5 minutes of code to block it and stuff it down our throats in an OTA and we're back to square one again.

And speaking of OTAs, it's not 100% certain it will work in fully blocking Verizon's supposed upcoming OTA, but those who are rooted should consider freezing both FWUpgrade and SDM
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Schaweet:
Noone is going to crack the encryption and no one is trying too. Calm down. They are working to bypass the checks that verify a signed image. I'm confident they will succeed. No reason to get all worked up thinking someone is going to try and crack the encryption.

Sent from my SGS3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Schaweet:
As far as the supposed OTA, I've never had an OTA even come up when I wasn't in a stock ROM. In fact, I've never had one come up if I was just rooted. I'm not worried about all the doom and gloom crap people are spreading.

Sent from my SGS3
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] eschelon:
That's because most custom ROMs you've been using have removed the carrier bloat, including the apks used to trigger an OTA update.

But many of the people here are running the stock VZW ROM with nothing more than the additional files and binaries needed to have root access. This ROM still has the files activated that are needed to run an OTA. It is a legitimate concern for many here.
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] techdeskjocky:
I remember a similar debacle when the HTC One X came out. Wasn't it about two weeks before the bootloader was cracked? I'm not saying that HTC and Samsung are similar in any way. All I AM saying is that the VZW S3 has only been out for a week. A WEEK. Relax, breathe, have faith.

#jesustakethewheel
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] s197:
I froze FWUpgrade a while back since I have a rough idea of what it does. Can you elaborate on SDM?
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] skennelly:
Just out of curiosity, how long did it take to unlock the other American carrier's devices?

*Sent from my Galaxy to yours through tapatalk
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] Metfanant:
they were unlockable straight out of the box
[Verizon Samsung Galaxy S III] techdeskjocky:
If you're referring to the S3, it should have been almost immediate.