Android is well known for its seemingly never-ending customization options and its permissive rooting credentials among other things. Distributions that cannot be modified to enable elevated permissions are quite rare, as enthusiasts seek to have virtually every possible feature available at their disposal.

But should you pursue that path? Does root provide what you need, or what you think you need? There are a couple of good reasons why you probably should root Android, but root is not for everyone, as the risks can far outweigh the benefits and you are likely to regret your decision once things get messy. So here is why you should not do it.

"While working on Replicant, a fully free/libre version of Android, we discovered that the proprietary program running on the applications processor in charge of handling the communication protocol with the modem actually implements a backdoor that lets the modem perform remote file I/O operations on the file system", said Replicant developer Paul Kocialkowski.

Today's phones come with two separate processors: one is a general-purpose applications processor that runs the main operating system, e.g. Android; the other, known as the modem, baseband, or radio, is in charge of communications with the mobile telephony network. This processor always runs a proprietary operating system, and these systems are known to have backdoors that make it possible to remotely convert the modem into a remote spying device.