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Comment by oldsklgdfth | Hacker News Reader

If they have this sort of ability, can they supply chain attach to add headphone jacks back into smartphone?

"Have you ever bought a produce that was almost perfect except for a couple of feature they never make. This is a solution for you. With our SCAAAS you can customize your product after the fact."

Supply Chain attack as a service.

Maybe ODMs can monetize this service. Pay me X amount for the part or X + Y amount to ensure some third-party didn't embed a back door or explosive in your part.

"Would you like a smart tv that doesn't spy on you? Too bad that doesn't exist. But for the low rate of $19.95 we will rip all that out with our patented SCAAAS. No surveillance or your money back. Surveillance for our observability may be present. Terms may apply"

The funny bit is that when I got a big-screen TV 10 years ago, I ripped it apart and desoldered the microphone from the control board. I also removed the microphone from the remote control when I got a chromecast. It just seemed easier than reversing the code and recompiling w/ a root cert I control (so I could MiTM the stream coming from the TV.)

I think I'm lucky... my TV doesn't seem to try to connect to open wi-fi networks. You have to explicitly give it an SSID and tell it to connect. I have chosen not to do that.

I think my SCAAAS service would advertise "Sure we spy on you, but we're too incompetent to do anything with the data."

If you can make a headphone jack out of trinitrotoluene, you can probably convince them to add it to every smartphone sold.

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