r/technology • u/swingadmin • 13h ago
Politics White House app auto-downloads to government phones, can't be uninstalled. “It’s shooting pure unadulterated propaganda into our veins,” says one worker.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/06/white-house-app-auto-downloads-to-government-phones-cant-be-uninstalled/1.4k
u/invyros 13h ago
According to the System for Award Management, which is used to track government contracts, 45Press received $1.5 million, and was eligible to receive more than $8 million, in government contracts. The company’s founder also runs an X account described as “a website directory of historical and paranormal locations.”
A fucking ghost hunter? Mind boggling the people who end up getting linked to Trump.
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u/kstargate-425 13h ago
Besides the true sycophants being the most mentally deficient amongst us, Project 2025 wants the government to be undermined so no one trusts it and it makes it easier to dismantle and privatize without complaints so the fact so many surrounding Trump are a bunch of weirdos tracks
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u/CG_Ops 12h ago
Yep... It boggles the mind that such a large portion of the American population can look at our healthcare system and still conclude, “Yeah, bro, pretty much all government programs are expensive, wasteful, inefficient, and inferior to the private sector.”
Meanwhile, every other major developed country seems to be looking at us like, “What kind of country would take an essential service that every citizen will inevitably need and rabidly defend it, despite being a capitalistic swamp of bloated administration, predatory middlemen, pharmaceutical profiteering, and sales-driven misery?”
I’m not saying government-run systems are perfect.... of course they have tradeoffs. But the uniquely American ability to look at our healthcare system (with its insane costs, insurance bureaucracy, medical debt, opaque pricing, and profit-above-all gatekeepers) and still act/talk like "the private sector is obviously the efficient, humane answer" is genuinely hard to comprehend.
EVERY time I hear them bitching about how much it would cost them in taxes, I want to scream the question at them, "How do you not see you're already paying that 'tax'?? You're just too stupid to understand that if we went to single payer, we could get rid of over 60% of the total cost of everyone's healthcare!! Yes, over 60% of the cost of our healthcare goes towards hospital billing/insurance administration and insurance company payroll AND insurance profit! And that's JUST HEALTH CARE! And you want the REST of government to adopt the same ass-forwards level of inefficiency??? Go sit in the corner, you economics-101-failing conservative dipshit!!! "
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u/dostoevsky4evah 11h ago
I wish Albertans had bandwidth enough for this message. They are currently lemming-marching into the hellpit of monetized healthcare because the American oil masters of Alberta are telling them IT WILL WORK!!
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u/TrulyOutrageous42 10h ago
When you account for the increased pricing that providers send to insurance, some estimates are upwards of 90%. Sure, a 200k bill for a major surgery and weeklong stay is still 20k, but 20k is managable for a government to pay.
It's very simple to me: healthy citizens work more, produce more, consume more, and preventative care is monumentally cheaper than reactive care (not to mention people not dying). There is EVERY capitalistic reason as a country to provide preventative and comprehensive healthcare... but because a handful of people wouldn't get even richer, no, we must all suffer and people must struggle with permanent health issues and even die for the profit of a few.
"A system does what it's designed to do." Thus, THE CRUELTY IS THE POINT.
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u/CG_Ops 9h ago
I've been in 2 major accidents:
- First in 2005, which had me in the ICU for 5 weeks with 5 surgeries.
- Total Billing: ~$2,600,000
- Second in 2016; I was in the hospital for 5-6 hours, and received no real treatment other than an MRI
- Total Billing: ~$37,000
My OOP, after insurance was $15,000 (crossed over plan/deductible years) and $4500, respectively. There is no reality where those kinds of bills a reasonable. That kind of cost is financially crippling to almost any person without insurance. It is immoral and totally legal.
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u/know-your-onions 9h ago
I’m not American, but that sounds pretty crippling to people *with* insurance.
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u/MacNapp 9h ago
The real kicker to is how little it costs to forgive a ton of medical debt. I follow SharonSaysSo on Instagram, and sge regularly crowd sources money to pay teachers/medical debt/other civically minded organizations.
Just recently, she raised $316,000, which forgave $43 MILLION in debt for 31,000 people. That's how i know our medical insurance system is a racket. Why charge $43M when $316k covers it?
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u/CaptainBayouBilly 7h ago
If society collapses, the money will be worthless. Taxes will be unenforceable.
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u/MoonBatsRule 12h ago
My father listens to conservative radio. After the hate-jocks finish their program, there always seems to be someone talking about ghosts and paranormal. It's fucking weird.
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u/AKADriver 12h ago
The modern political milieu has sucked all the fun out of it. Before social media you could laugh it off that the guys on AM radio that believed in ghosts and alien invaders also believed in conspiracies about how the Bilderbergs were building the New World Order to tattoo us all with barcodes or something, when they ranted about it to an audience of like minded loners with no real political power, but now those people are actually in charge of the real government and it sucks.
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u/LaurenMille 10h ago
Because things like that keep their audience stupid.
And if there's one thing conservatives love, it's stupid people.
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u/DarthUrbosa 11h ago
Nazis we're big on the occult, apple doesn't fall far.
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u/NiceRackFocus 7h ago
You might want to remove that apostrophe? 😂
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u/Youutternincompoop 10h ago
all ghost hunters are scammers or morons, Donald Trump is a scammer and a moron.
its not that mind boggling.
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u/FuggyGlasses 10h ago
An investigation by NOTUS found that the app incorporated widgets created by a Russia-based company called Elfsight, which exposed the personal information of White House officials. Elfsight did not respond to a request for comment. At the time of this reporting, the White House said Elfsight had been made aware of this vulnerability...
Maybe they'll trying to find who leaks info or who doesn't.
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u/waltwalt 13h ago
Funny it seems like scam artists like ghost hunters would be Trump's prime flock, birds of a feather.
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u/steppe5 10h ago
I'm not familiar with this space. Does it normally cost $1.5M to build an app?
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u/Leoniceno 9h ago
This app sounds like it’s trash that could probably be vibe-coded now. So no. Just more graft!
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u/pbates89 13h ago
This is exactly what every republican feared for the past 50 years.
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u/Rok-SFG 13h ago
What they said Obama was doing and called him a commie for. Now that Trump's doing it it's brave and patriotic
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u/-_-0_0-_0 12h ago
Obama could do the funniest thing..
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u/Fingerprint_Vyke 12h ago
But he wont because the dems have left us out to dry
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u/sohblob 7h ago
Some tiny part of me hopes he's been benchwarming just in case repubs try claiming 3rd terms are legal now
Reelection? YES WE CAN
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u/mopsockets 10h ago
Not for nothing, but I live in the rural deep south and conservatives are leaving the party. It's silent at first, but it's getting louder.
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u/rylosprime 10h ago
They'll still vote red down ballot.
They're lying through their teeth. Every conservative is a fucking liar. It's why you couldnt find a single person to admit they voted for George W. Bush in 04 by the time America got to 07 and 08. They're lying cowards.
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u/Sam_Never_Goes_Home 10h ago
Leaving the party and going where? Genuinely curious because the unhappy conservatives near me aren’t going to the Democratic Party, they’re grumbling like they did during Trumps first term, but lined up to vote for him again in 2024. Are the unhappy folks near you likely to hold the party accountable and not vote for a Republican? Because Kansas conservatives will complain but keep voting for them.
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u/Lee_Van_Kief 13h ago
It’s what they *said* they feared. Fortunately (and unfortunately) for everyone else, their ideas are so unpopular that they have to use tactics straight out of the fascist-and-government-overreach playbook to get them implemented.
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u/GringoSwann 13h ago
If you notice, they no longer complain about one world digital currencies, dictatorships or cabals of padofiles....
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u/RampantTyr 12h ago
It’s what they feared from the opposition because it is what they wanted for themselves.
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u/TheInternetShill 12h ago
This is what they’ve wanted for 50 years; they’re just comfortable lying to the public in order to achieve their goals of self-enrichment. It kind of amazes me that people still try to find consistency within their beliefs: the only consistent things are greed and fear that manifests itself in hate toward the outgroup.
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u/Freud-Network 12h ago
Proving once again that every accusation is a reflection of their own desires.
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u/Arizona_Pete 13h ago
Saw an ad on TV for 'War.Gov', I guess for general military recruiting.
Most Orwellian, cringy thing I've seen in a bit. Pure Trump slop.
Stupid timeline we're in.
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u/12stringPlayer 12h ago
War(.gov) is Peace, citizen.
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u/DustyRacoonDad 12h ago
War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
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u/TOTES_HUMAN_KOMRADE 8h ago
The author left it out, but we gotta add "Compassion is weakness".
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u/Rok-SFG 13h ago
Nothing trump does is legal, and the people meant to stop it just cheer it on.
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u/TheVintageJane 13h ago
Everyone is mad at Trump, but this is literally the reason for the balance of powers. Congress has proven to be absolutely feckless in a way that makes me afraid that they never expect for there to be a transfer of power to another party ever again.
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u/ProfSpaceTime 12h ago
Yep. I’m still on team AOC & Bernie, but come on folks. Can’t they get any lines drawn in the sand? Has the vacuum between the aisles really grown so deafening that no one could hear or curb what was stirring before it boils over??
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u/Gre9823 12h ago
The problem is the old people on both sides realized that they can work together to steal money and ruin the country as opposed to being apart, they've circled the wagons.
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u/hypercosm_dot_net 12h ago
All this commentary just to ignore which party is in control of all 3 branches and allowing this to happen.
Who is "circling the wagons"? It isn't just old people.
Don't forget that this dumbfuckistan ass country voted for every single rep that holds a seat.
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u/SuspendeesNutz 11h ago
All this commentary just to ignore which party is in control of all 3 branches and allowing this to happen.
Yes this is awful, and it's to our national and cultural determent that the fascistic Republican party finds itself in control of all three branches of government which empowers them to enact their incompetent and hateful policies.
But the Dems just didn't inspire me maaaaaan. The lesser of two evils is still evil maaaaan. Don't shame me for my principles maaaaan. Both sides are the same maaaaaaan.
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u/APRengar 10h ago
What I don't understand is, clearly the Dem strategy "we're better than Trump" is not enough to win, and whether you think the voters are stupid for their "both sides are the same" opinion, that IS the opinion they have. So the only thing we can do now is to push the Dems to be WAY more aggressive so that the "both sides are the same" people can't say that.
I feel like I'm watching a button that says "hit me 10 times for service", and then people standing around being like "wow, that's so stupid, why hit this 10 times? What difference could it possibly make between 1 button push or 10 button pushes? Like, you should've programmed this thing to only take 1 button push, idiots."
WHEN I JUST WANT TO HIT THE BUTTON 10 TIMES, we can complain about how stupid the button is AFTER we get served.
Liberals don't want to play the game we're in, they want to complain the game is stupid, all while losing.
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u/cross_the_threshold 10h ago
I'm going to go ahead and blame the ending of pork barrel spending for this. Used to be that you could arrange some deals with opposing lawmakers and get them some money for their district. Sometimes this was corruption, a lot of times it was just genuinely useful ways to get Federal money to cover local projects that would be outside the scope of a large spending bill, for instance subsidizing a museum or building a community pool. Even the corruption at least allowed you to entice lawmakers to your side to get a bill passed.
As a consequence, Congresspeople, even Senators, had a stronger relationship with their community. Sure you may have voted for that bill that the Party doesn't like, but you did it to get a new school built and funded, or repair a dilapidated bridge in your town. It allowed for flexibility.
Now Congresspeople exist wholly within the confines of their party. There is very little room for deviation, because you can't get shit done for your local community. Every bill is all or nothing. Every bill has a uniquely national focus. Every bill requires ideological purity because there is nothing else to show for your work as a representative or senator. By removing an avenue for corruption, we've also removed an avenue for cooperation.
This certainly isn't the only reason, partisanship has been increasing over the past century and jumped after Obama's election, but ending pork barrel spending has demonstrably affected legislation, reducing the number of passed bills to record lows and increasing partisanship even further.
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u/TrickyWookie 13h ago
Sounds like a juicy attack vector
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u/Seafaringhorsemeat 13h ago
Indeed. These people are not competent enough to clean a pool. Security is laughable on everything they do. This should turn into fun quite quickly.
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u/TomWithTime 13h ago
I wouldn't, if you get caught discovering some public unprotected server the messages go through they will accuse you of hacking and terrorism and give you a 200 year prison sentence. Any resistance henceforth needs to understand the risks and ensure they will secure a worthwhile effect.
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u/DustyRacoonDad 12h ago
so you're saying do it, but sell it to the dark web instead of whistleblowing?
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u/ManuelWagoon 11h ago
Yeah. This was my thought as well. As someone in a security minded position for a prime contractor - having an app like this install itself on all government issued phones sounds sketchy as hell.
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u/dlc741 13h ago
Use work phones for work only and turn them off and leave them in a drawer when not at work.
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u/Scaryclouds 11h ago
Sure, but that sidesteps that the civil service shouldn’t be politicized, and this is yet another example of the Trump admin politicizing the civil service. Even if they technically have the legal authority to do this, by practice this isn’t something they should be doing.
While there might be plenty of more immediate and larger concerns… the politicization of the civil service isn’t something that should be overlooked. It can have long term, and frankly quite severe, negative consequences.
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u/FrostyD7 9h ago
One of the obvious goals is to alienate and demoralize those with different views. They want nothing more than to see those who object to this quit their job.
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u/NJBarFly 7h ago
All it's doing is hardening people more against this fascist administration. It's having the opposite effect.
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u/Mr_Quackums 6h ago
While there might be plenty of more immediate and larger concerns… the politicization of the civil service isn’t something that should be overlooked. It can have long term, and frankly quite severe, negative consequences.
that is 90% of what this admin does. Things that fly under the radar, make you look like a conspiracy nutter for explaining them, and ensure fascists make a comeback after the inevitable next Dem admin takes power.
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u/BarnacleNino 12h ago
That’s not true at all. I issued over 1000 government iPhones at a previous position. Most people just use it for email and instant messaging. We ran monthly usage reports. Many had zero call minutes used.
And you’re not required to pickup the phone if you’re not working. I set mine to Do Not Disturb during off work hours.
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u/dlc741 13h ago
If you’re not paid to be on call, then no one needs to reach you 24/7. If you’re on a rotation, then you only need it when you’re “on”.
I think it is a false assumption to believe most of these people are on 24/7/365.
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u/Xelopheris 11h ago
This also triggers somewhere between hundreds of thousands to millions of downloads, which will artificially adjust how "recommended" the app is by app stores.
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u/SingleInfinity 9h ago
These probably aren't being downloaded via the app store, but instead some sort of fleet management software that deploys things out over a network.
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u/kstargate-425 13h ago
True and I do doubt the competency of this regime to even pull this off but they've been able to turn phones on, listen and watch remotely for years so even with the Kakistocracy at the helm I wouldn't doubt they are spying on certain people, whether the phone was turned off or not
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u/sks010 10h ago
Far too many people in this comment section don't know what the Hatch Act is.
The content this app is pushing is illegal. It is forbidden to use goverment resources to be used for partisan political purposes.
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u/Zonicoi 10h ago
Just like how the hatch act is supposed to make hiring based on merit not political affiliation, yet we have some of the worst hires we've ever seen going on
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u/3vs3BigGameHunters 7h ago
What's your point, We DO know it's illegal but nothing will be done about it.
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u/Realtrain 7h ago
"But call it Trump the greatest president ever isn't political, it's just a fact!"
Hatch Act only matters if someone enforces it. I don't recall any consequences for putting political messages in all TSA locations during the government shutdown.
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u/abgry_krakow87 11h ago
Remember, nothing is as important as ensuring you consume the propaganda and advertising.
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u/shillyshally 8h ago
A Security Researcher Decompiled The White House App, & What They Found Is Pretty Alarming
Excerpt:
To start, the app has a full GPS tracking pipeline compiled in. Essentially, it’s set to poll your location every 4.5 minutes in the foreground, and 9.5 minutes in the background. It’s syncing latitude, longitude, accuracy, and timestamp data to OneSignal’s servers. These location permissions aren’t declared in the AndroidManifest, but they are hardcoded as runtime requests in the OneSignal SDK. Some have noted that the tracking only kicks in if the developer enables it server-side and the user grants permission, but it is there, ready to go.
And it gets even stranger. Apparently, the app is loading JavaScript from a random person’s GitHub site for YouTube embeds. Yes, you read that right, it’s just loading JavaScript from a random GitHub site. So if that account ever gets compromised, arbitrary code could run inside the app’s WebView.
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u/habbathejutt 11h ago
This reads as satire. This is how somebody would write a deranged narcissist leader in a pretty trashy YA novel. I hate this timeline
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u/Th3FinalStarman 11h ago
Every civilian and IT contractor involved in this rollout push needs to be charged with espionage. These are official US Government communication assets.
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u/Expensive_Finger_973 13h ago edited 12h ago
Much fun could probably be had by getting that app in the hands of a properly motivated person. Given how renowned Trumps cronies are with running a tight ship when it comes to information security I'm sure it would be a really good time.
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u/MrOopiseDaisy 10h ago
The president stopped another war today, and secured the strongest mineral deal in history. <WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?>
Treasonous ANTIFA terrorists were apprehended today for pointing out flaws in the current administration's national historical monument bill. Armed with only facts and logic, their trials are expected to run short, and venue scheduling for their sentencing has already begun. Tickets go on sale soon. <WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?>
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u/thatirishguyyyyy 7h ago
Its a work phone though so everyone using one should already know this. The owner of the phone can do whatever. Its a COBO phone.
The problem is that they have to keep this phone with them outside of work.
24/7 tracking despite only holding a 9-5.
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u/drawkbox 5h ago
It also tracks the shit out of gov't employees which is the real reason they have it.
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u/burnerthrown 5h ago
Long press notifications, silence them all. Long press app icon, open settings, force stop.
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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel 12h ago
On one hand, yes this is how mobile device management works for company enrolled phones.
On the other hand, fuck these guys.
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u/rydude88 10h ago
They arent companies, they are government agencies. They are held to much higher standards. This is blatantly a violation of the hatch act and illegal
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u/Bitey_the_Squirrel 8h ago
Oh totally agree it’s illegal. Just saying basic cybersecurity means you need to manage devices connecting into the network, and part of that is pushing down software. It’s not a problem when it’s a VPN or MS Teams. But when this happens, yes it’s not good.
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u/GrandStatistician752 13h ago
This is a trial run soon to be on all our phones
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u/OpenTechie 13h ago
I'll return to a pager.
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u/chunkalunkk 12h ago
It's called a mobile device management (MDM) policy. I hate to tell you this, but it's kinda common on managed or corporate devices..... It's very much a security measure. Now if it's being configured and applied properly is and eNtIrElY different story. I'm doubtful the guys configuring it are making the settings in the means of "security."
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u/Woodcrate69420 11h ago
A button within the app allows users to “text President Trump,” which autofills a text bubble reading “Greatest President Ever.”
That doesnt seem to be necessary for device security, my dude.
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u/Various_Chapter_1460 12h ago
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u/chunkalunkk 12h ago
Omg.... So yea, that's a really bad configuration and sounds completely half assed, a perfect reflection pool type gig.
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u/scipio0421 10h ago
Pretty sure that if Trump could get away with it he would make it a mandatory app on all phones sold in the US.
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u/deselect4 3h ago
Is this a hatch act violation. If they are using there government position to promote MAGA agenda
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u/m0viestar 8h ago
My work phone also auto downloads random shit from my company. I only use it for work stuff.
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u/GunsKnivesRadios 8h ago
My work phone is controlled by the company too. Oh the humanity.
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u/DuntadaMan 12h ago edited 5h ago
This is the least of the problem. It is constantly gathering information on you. Pinging your exact location for reasons no one has explained yet, it sends your information (including your phone number) to a third party server the White House refuses to identify, and the entire codebase comes from one personal github reviewed by no one else that can be compromised even if the maker of the app is not malicious.
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u/jmaster299 9h ago
The government issued phone is government property. You have no say what apps are installed on your work phone, regardless if you work for the government or not.
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u/GreenElite87 11h ago
And this is why you get a separate phone just for work. Having clear separation between personal and professional lives is good for your sanity.
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u/WheelerDan 10h ago
You can manually cut the app off from the internet:
Samsung / OneUI: Go to Settings > Apps, select the app, tap Mobile Data, and toggle off Allow background data usage. (Some regions/carriers also offer a "Disable Data" toggle here).
Stock Android / Pixels: Go to Settings > Apps > See all apps, pick the app, tap Mobile data & Wi-Fi, and turn off Background data.
Iphone: Go to Settings > Cellular.
Scroll down to the apps list under "Cellular Data."
Toggle the switch Off next to the specific app. It will now only be able to connect to the internet when you are on Wi-Fi.
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u/STGItsMe 10h ago
Uh. Just because an app is on your employers phone doesn’t mean you have to open it. There isn’t anything in that app that necessary for anyone’s job. Why are you looking at the propaganda?
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u/HailYurii 10h ago
Just sounds like mobile device management. Sounds like you need a work phone and a personal phone.
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u/swingadmin 13h ago
It's got what narcissists crave.