

Department of Defense Makes Move Towards Android - privacyguru
http://www.securityweek.com/department-defense-makes-move-towards-android

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pavelkaroukin
That's good to hear. Maybe one step at a time government will come to idea of
using open source software everywhere. Working with government organization I
see how deep proprietary software is embeded into this sector. This comes with
two problems:

\- Shrinking budgets. As result - no support and crappy websites. (and I bet
desktop apps as well, we just do not see these)

\- Very hard time with open sourcing software developed with public funds
(read - our taxes). Because most of the time software delivered in compiled
form and vendor not obligated by contract to give full rights or source code
on it to governmental agency paid for this work.

Good news - this happens slowly not only in defense, as in this example. Few
governmental agencies managers start to pushing to open sourcing work done for
agency. Which for me means mental shift happens.

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orbitingpluto
I have a Dell Streak. I've had 9 of them over the past 9 months. Maybe 8, I've
lost count.(And kudos to Rogers Wireless customer support for finally getting
me one that's okay and also waiving my 24 month HW upgrade fee.)

I've had 3 new and the remainder have been refurbished models. Problems that
have occurred:

1) Batteries not included. 2) PDMI cable not included, just a microUSB. 3)
Screen tinted blue. 4) Dead pixels. 5) Vibrator damaged. 6) Accelerometer
sluggish changing values. 7) Case peeling off in lower left corner. 8) Poor
WiFi connectivity 9) Refusal to wake-up/power-off 10) Unlock slider resets
mid-swipe, unable to unlock phone without fiddling with the power button and
retrying several times.

and

11) the ubiquitous back panel issue. It falls off, especially if in pocket.
Coupled with issue #9 you need a pair of pliers to regularly bend the tabs so
the back panel will 'snick' into place and stay there.

It's been pretty useless as a phone. But I use it as a testing device. If an
app works well on the Streak...

Also, in airplane mode (with WiFi on) battery life is really good.

DoD has to buy American if they can, but these things can't be relied upon.

~~~
jeffreyg
Google, George Mason University, and the NSA have been working on a secure
Android kernel for a while. I doubt it will be compatible with all Android
devices, but I'm sure they'll consider it reliable before rolling it out in
DoD.

~~~
joezydeco
I know of one company designing a ruggedized phone for military use that
happens to be based on Android (it's free, it's easy to port and get it
running). I don't predict Navy SEALs will be carrying Dell Streaks on their
missions.

~~~
josephkern
I dont think they will either, but their support crews might. All SOF need
massive ammounts of logistical, technical, mechanical, and intelligence
support. All of their ground crews and support personel would greatly benifit
from a tablet, if it's a dell streak that they expect to break, so be it, just
so long as spares are available.

The greatest benifit that these support personel will have is a smaller foot
print, and no manual pages to count. Yes that's right they actually count each
and every page of every manual on an anual basis.

Forgive the mispellings and grammar typing this on my phone.

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drcube
Another jab at CarrierIQ. Like it's part of the "Single Android Specification"
or something. Just because some unscrupulous carriers like to spy on their
customers doesn't mean everybody with an Android phone is a chump. I've been
on Android a year now and have used the carrier OS at most two days while I
downloaded and installed CyanogenMod. If I can bypass CarrierIQ that easily,
so can the US Department of Defense.

That said, there are plenty of other security concerns to worry about, but I
just don't think CarrierIQ is relevant.

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derekerdmann
This isn't mentioned in the article, but the Venue was only approved because
Dell added additional security features to Android. I don't recall what the
exact changes were, but I believe that if those features were added to the
Android core (which I don't think they will), the STIG could be modified for a
larger range of devices.

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bane
Previous similar submission, <http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3397786>

Like I said there, big news for
<http://www.palantirtech.com/government/mobile>

