The reality is that the same service is often used by others as well, not only the police, so the amount of random "noise" and false alarms will make it useless and more like a "fun gadget".

It would be a lot more interesting if someone found out a way to crack the encryption in a generic way.

I agree - if it won't fit without complications in my breast pocket of my shirt it's not of interest.

Trouser pockets - well, if the phone was max 100mm thick and made in hard rubber (bendable) it would be good.

Build one from a USB TV stick.

Search for "Software Defined Radio".

May the Force be with you.

According to some it's an electric phenomenon. Ever seen the effect static electricity have? If the center of the galaxy has a different potential than the outer parts it could be the answer.

But unless we can measure the potential difference we won't know.

The cruel way to cut emissions is to offer suicide booths to people. That way that person won't contribute anymore.

Hamburgers don't have cheese, cheeseburgers do.

More complex does not make it better. The point is to create something with as few components as possible to get a high level of reliability and performance.

The high complexity is most likely a sign of someone using standard generally available mask components and configure them to emulate the FTDI chip, or even a FPGA, PIC or similar. It does in no way make it better.

And all of them suffer clones, FTDI today, the rest tomorrow.

I also understand their stance since the clones do cost them reputation when they don't work as they should.

But you aren't a FTDI user, you are a user of a counterfeit device that happens to lure the OS to load a FTDI driver.

If anything - shun Chinese fake products.

That's only working into the hands of the counterfeit chip producers.

The problem isn't the real FTDI chips, it is those that leeches on property (PID/VID) purchased by FTDI with substandard equipment/chips.

If this causes a backlash of a lot of devices ending up in warranty claims due to non-functionality or DOA (Dead on arrival) then it will definitely hurt the counterfeiters.

That doesn't always work.

The problem is that the fake chips are sometimes injected into batches of real chips, and it costs money to test the validity of every chip on the production line. If the standard driver borks the fake chips on the production line then they will fail tests and go into the junk bin. If the junk bin overflows with borked devices due to fake chips then it will definitely go back the food chain.