[Galaxy S 5 General] jujijoog:
Anti-Piracy Service/"Project Guard" [UPDATED W/ LINK TO DISABLE IT VIA XPOSED 8/16]

If you use any of the following apps:

(List Updated 8/14)

-- Freedom

-- Lucky Patcher

-- Black Mart

-- All in one Downloader

-- Get APK Market

-- CreeHack

-- Game Hacker

Either do not flash any of the ROMs in the list below which have a trojan "Anti-Piracy" Service implemented or use one_minus_one's Xposed module (link above) to disable it.

(List Updated 8/14)

-- AICP (Confirmed)

-- Exodus (Confirmed)

-- Broken OS 3.0

-- OrionLP V1.3

The devs of AICP and custom ROMs such as exodus (a new ROM based on Cyanogen from the vanir devs, that is available for klte and kltespr) and others are implementing what is effectively an Anti-Piracy trojan in their ROMs that they call "Project Guard".

Project Guard is a service that runs in the background and literally blocks you from installing the APKs associated with these apps. And it doesn't stop there. Apparently Project Guard was having talk of banning both Aptoide and XPOSED in these ROMs. Thankfully, this was voted down but Aptoide was still on the table as far as I heard last. The fact that even the idea of banning Xposed from AOSP ROMs in order to stop it's users from pirating was even discussed, is frankly surreal to me and out of control. It's shameful. Not sure why the developers felt the need to implement this trivial and easily bypassed "feature" but it goes against everything I thought the AOSP stood for. While it is easy enough to bypass this service using third party apps or a hex editor, I do not wish to support any developers that would stoop to this level of greed. If you want money for your code, I totally understand, but this is AOSP not apple and there is a time and place for everything. Please, don't take out your misplaced aggression at software pirates on the AOSP. Because, although this may be just a little bit of code to you, to me it is the beginning of the end of AOSP. If you compromise your integrity now, it's a short trip from here to bloatware with a monthly subscription fee. In a modern internet climate that is becoming increasingly controlled and corporatized, AOSP is a beacon of hope to me. A reminder that technology belongs to the many and not the few. This decision spits in the face of that hope. People will say i'm being dramatic but this is a huge deal to me and if you care about having the freedom to do what you want with your phone, which i'm pretty sure most of you do, then this should be a big deal to you too. I thought I could trust AOSP developers to do the right thing but apparently they feel that it's their place to decide which apps I can and cannot install. If you care about having the freedom to do why you wish with your phone, I urge you not to flash this ROM, or any ROM that would compromise its integrity by adding code that is meant to control its users. This is the kind of thing that made us choose AOSP in the first place. It doesn't even make logical sense to implement things like this in an open source ROM, as inevitably new versions of the ROM will be released with this ridiculous code removed. I am seriously disappointed as AICP was one of my favorite ROMs. The developers of AICP and the other affected ROMs have the right to do whatever they want(within legal boundaries) with their code as creators of intellectual property but as an AOSP user you have the right to flash a ROM with a little more integrity.

*Update 8/14*

This is directly from the Project Guard Official Github Page:

"NOTE: Please report new piracy markets and malware to me or any of the others involved with this project. Pull requests are also welcome. For ROM developers interested in using this it makes more sense to track this project directly and then bridge into an existing package with correct perms (like settings). This way any changes made here to the blacklisted packages and improvements will reach out to everyone."

This "note", written in huge font right on the Project Guard Github main page, begs the question;

So what exactly is the criteria for a "Piracy Market"?

Any market that contains software that will help or allow you to pirate software? That's my best guess at the projects aim, HOWEVER, they have provided, as far as I can tell, ZERO criteria for what constitutes a "Piracy Market". A "Piracy Market" may include Aptoide but it could also include the Google Playstore. You see the problem here? This is much too arbitrary and relative to be efficient in stopping piracy and much more likely to hurt developers, especially seeing as anyone who knows how to pirate, can also learn to bypass this service with a quick Google search. I did. What is going to happen is, legitimate software, or software that gives a user access to legitimate software, will end up being banned in these ROMs. This is a very dangerous mindset they have here. This could turn into a witch hunt or full blown technological McCarthyism.

Make no mistakes about it, as a user named "Bikas" pointed out on the OPO forums here, this is indeed a trojan.

According to wikipedia a computer trojan is defined as "any malicious computer program which misrepresent itself as useful, routine, or interesting in order to persuade a victim to install it". When someone downloads a custom ROM, especially AOSP, they assume they are gaining more freedom but in this case they are having it taken away. People trust AOSP devs and won't expect this to happen. Nobody expects to be controlled like this by a backround service in an AOSP custom ROM, therefore the entire ROM can be considered a trojan.

Wikipedia also states that if the trojan is "installed or run with elevated privileges a Trojan will generally have unlimited access. What it does with this power depends on the motives of the attacker." This also fits these ROMs. The ROMs DO have unlimited access to your phone and blocking you from installing a whole category of APKs is very malicious. In this case the "motives of the attacker" are to stop or curb piracy.

It is very clear that they,

A. Have unlimited access to your phone

B. Have clear motives

C. Are using this access without your permission to prevent you from installing apps that they have deemed "pirate markets", which is consistent with these motives.

Now ask yourself, are you okay with your ROM including a Trojan entirely based on the ROM developer's personal motives and political ideology, at the cost of your technological freedom to install whatever the hell you want? Software, especially AOSP ROMs, should be free of it's creator's bias and motives.

One more thing. It is of my opinion that the underlying reason for the creation of these "Anti-Piracy" ROMs is just money, or simply put, greed. I understand it can be frusterating when you put your blood, sweat and tears into an app or ROM and not only does nobody donate but they remove your advertisement's with an app like lucky patcher or complain that you aren't releasing nightlys often enough. I really do get that. But at the end of the day this thing is about money as virtually all "Anti-Piracy" groups, laws and efforts are. This is about forcing people to pay. I'm not saying they shouldn't pay, BUT THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO ENFORCE IT.

-- Tipsy

-- SlimLP

-- SlimSaber

-- MinimalOS

-- CyanogenMod 12.1

-- Euphoria

-- Slimremix

-- Cmremix

-- Resurrection Remix

Don't take my word for it,

READ UP!