As I thought, and as it should be.
Yes, we do not allow discussions of anything illegal.
No, it's not related to changing IMEI numbers, but it is related to bypassing security features which allow unauthorised users access to the phone. Is this not illegal?
No, it is not. As opposed to changing hardware identification numbers (which is illegal even if you do it on a device you own), bypassing security features (such as getting root, unlocking bootloader, removing device or account locks, etc) on devices you own is not illegal.
You are confusing the act of unlocking/"rooting"/removing locks, with illegal use.
Bypassing security features to use a device which is not yours, or to steal a device or whatever else, is illegal, but not because of you bypassing security "features" - - it is illegal because you are committing fraud or theft or whatever the case may be.
If someone doesn't know what Google account was used when the phone was set up (considering this is a feature introduced with Android 5.1 - i.e. modern phones) then the likelihood is that the phone was either bought second hand or stolen, correct?
Most likely, yes.
If the phone was bought second hand, has this security feature enabled, and the seller isn't able to help you by entering the correct credentials (either over the phone, or by returning the phone) then that points towards the seller not knowing what the details are - so how did he/she get hold of the phone?
If you read the Nexus 6 forums, you will see many cases of users which bought phones from eBay or Swappa, and couldn't use them because the sellers forgot to remove their Google accounts before resetting the device. At the time, the only way that was known to get around this was to have the seller give the buyer his Google account credentials over the phone so that the buyer could log in to the phone and remove the seller's Google account. If you were the seller, would you be comfortable giving a stranger you Google login credentials? I certainly wouldn't. So, as you can see, it is not a case of the seller not knowing what the login is, but not wanting to share his login with a stranger.
Sure, Google's implementation of this isn't the greatest implementation, but if we're just handing out details of how to bypass it willy-nilly - then what's the point of these added security features?
What's the point of locked bootloaders? What's the point of preventing root on devices? They are all security features, and there are valid reasons for some individuals to remove/bypass them.
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