David Nield, Wired »
In simple terms, the new Pixel Binary Transparency checks the Android operating system on a Pixel phone to make sure the code is exactly as it should be. It’s a bit like checking the authenticity of a painting, looking for signs of tampering, or checking that all the office doors and windows are locked at the end of the day. Google has written about the new feature in a blog post, and it says the feature will be built upon in the future.
Pixel Binary Transparency is a public, cryptographic log that records metadata about official factory images. With this log, Pixel users can mathematically prove that their Pixels are running factory images that match what Google released and haven’t been tampered with.