[Ads-l] rooted

[Florian Weimer]

* Barretts Mail:

> —
> If you have a rooted Android device, be aware that you may no longer
> be able to use the Netflix app going forward.
> —
>
> This looks like an adjective from the past participle of “to root”.
>
> About the transitive verb root, Wiktionary […] says:
>
> • (computing, slang, transitive) To break into a computer system and obtain root access.
> We rooted his box and planted a virus on it.
>
> The online Oxford Dictionaries […] say:
>
> Gain access to the root account of (a smartphone or computer)
>
> • ‘we explained how to manually root almost any Android device’

> I don’t think any of those quite get to the meaning in the article.

Both meanings are essentially the same (“gain full administrative
access to the system”).  The difference is that restrictions on
smartphones are used to lock out the rightful owner (who is the
attacker in this scenario), not random strangers on the Internet.  You
underestimate the degree the devices we purchase have already been
turned against us.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org