FC0013 RTL-SDRs Lack EEPROMs (and Modifiable Serials)

I recently ordered two cheap RTL-SDR dongles from AliExpress from the HTOOL store. They are branded as RTL-SDR Blog V2 dongles (as opposed to genuine V3 and V4 dongles), but I don't believe these are authentic. I suspect that they are branded this way to portray themselves as new old stock of RTL-SDR Blog. I knew they wouldn't be very good; they advertised upfront that it used the Fitipower FC0013…