diff --git a/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.cpp b/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.cpp
index f0cb9c1..1ed8b74 100644
--- a/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.cpp
+++ b/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.cpp
@@ -66,19 +66,8 @@
     mItems.clear();
 }
 
-MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionID_t MediaAnalyticsService::generateUniqueSessionID() {
-    return ++mLastSessionID;
-}
-
-// TODO: consider removing forcenew.
-MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionID_t MediaAnalyticsService::submit(
-        MediaAnalyticsItem *item, bool forcenew __unused)
+status_t MediaAnalyticsService::submitInternal(MediaAnalyticsItem *item, bool release)
 {
-    // fill in a sessionID if we do not yet have one
-    if (item->getSessionID() <= MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDNone) {
-        item->setSessionID(generateUniqueSessionID());
-    }
-
     // we control these, generally not trusting user input
     nsecs_t now = systemTime(SYSTEM_TIME_REALTIME);
     // round nsecs to seconds
@@ -136,8 +125,8 @@
 
     // validate the record; we discard if we don't like it
     if (isContentValid(item, isTrusted) == false) {
-        delete item;
-        return MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDInvalid;
+        if (release) delete item;
+        return PERMISSION_DENIED;
     }
 
     // XXX: if we have a sessionid in the new record, look to make
@@ -145,18 +134,17 @@
 
     if (item->count() == 0) {
         ALOGV("%s: dropping empty record...", __func__);
-        delete item;
-        return MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDInvalid;
+        if (release) delete item;
+        return BAD_VALUE;
     }
 
     // send to statsd
     extern bool dump2Statsd(MediaAnalyticsItem *item);  // extern hook
     (void)dump2Statsd(item);  // failure should be logged in function.
 
-    // keep our copy
-    const MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionID_t id = item->getSessionID();
+    if (!release) item = item->dup();
     saveItem(item);
-    return id;
+    return NO_ERROR;
 }
 
 status_t MediaAnalyticsService::dump(int fd, const Vector<String16>& args)
diff --git a/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.h b/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.h
index ed7b7b1..eb7d725 100644
--- a/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.h
+++ b/services/mediaanalytics/MediaAnalyticsService.h
@@ -35,31 +35,28 @@
     ~MediaAnalyticsService() override;
 
     /**
-     * Submits the indicated record to the mediaanalytics service, where
-     * it will be merged (if appropriate) with incomplete records that
-     * share the same key and sessionid.
+     * Submits the indicated record to the mediaanalytics service.
      *
      * \param item the item to submit.
-     * \param forcenew marks any matching incomplete record as complete before
-     *                 inserting this new record.
-     *
-     * \return the sessionID associated with that item or
-     *         MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDInvalid on failure.
-     *
-     * BEWARE: When called directly on the service (not from the binder interface),
-     * the caller surrenders ownership of item, MediaAnalyticsService will delete
-     * even on error.  The binder interface does not take ownership.
-     * TODO: fix this inconsistency with the binder RPC interface.
+     * \return status failure, which is negative on binder transaction failure.
+     *         As the transaction is one-way, remote failures will not be reported.
      */
-    MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionID_t submit(MediaAnalyticsItem *item, bool forcenew) override;
+    status_t submit(MediaAnalyticsItem *item) override {
+        return submitInternal(item, false /* release */);
+    }
 
     status_t dump(int fd, const Vector<String16>& args) override;
 
     static constexpr const char * const kServiceName = "media.metrics";
 
+protected:
+
+    // Internal call where release is true if ownership of item is transferred
+    // to the service (that is, the service will eventually delete the item).
+    status_t submitInternal(MediaAnalyticsItem *item, bool release) override;
+
 private:
     void processExpirations();
-    MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionID_t generateUniqueSessionID();
     // input validation after arrival from client
     static bool isContentValid(const MediaAnalyticsItem *item, bool isTrusted);
     bool isRateLimited(MediaAnalyticsItem *) const;
@@ -86,8 +83,6 @@
     const size_t mMaxRecordsExpiredAtOnce;
     const int mDumpProtoDefault;
 
-    std::atomic<MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionID_t> mLastSessionID{};
-
     class UidInfo {
     public:
         void setPkgInfo(MediaAnalyticsItem *item, uid_t uid, bool setName, bool setVersion);
diff --git a/services/mediaanalytics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp b/services/mediaanalytics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp
index 794b2f0..ea7739b 100644
--- a/services/mediaanalytics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp
+++ b/services/mediaanalytics/tests/mediametrics_tests.cpp
@@ -30,26 +30,25 @@
   sp mediaMetrics = new MediaAnalyticsService();
   status_t status;
 
-  // NOTE: submission of items to MediaMetrics releases ownership, even on error.
-
   // random keys ignored when empty
-  status = mediaMetrics->submit(MediaAnalyticsItem::create("random_key"), false);
-  ASSERT_EQ(MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDInvalid, status);
+  std::unique_ptr<MediaAnalyticsItem> random_key(MediaAnalyticsItem::create("random_key"));
+  status = mediaMetrics->submit(random_key.get());
+  ASSERT_EQ(PERMISSION_DENIED, status);
 
   // random keys ignored with data
-  auto random_key = MediaAnalyticsItem::create("random_key");
   random_key->setInt32("foo", 10);
-  status = mediaMetrics->submit(random_key, false);
-  ASSERT_EQ(MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDInvalid, status);
+  status = mediaMetrics->submit(random_key.get());
+  ASSERT_EQ(PERMISSION_DENIED, status);
 
   // known keys ignored if empty
-  status = mediaMetrics->submit(MediaAnalyticsItem::create("audiotrack"), false);
-  ASSERT_EQ(MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDInvalid, status);
+  std::unique_ptr<MediaAnalyticsItem> audiotrack_key(MediaAnalyticsItem::create("audiotrack"));
+  status = mediaMetrics->submit(audiotrack_key.get());
+  ASSERT_EQ(BAD_VALUE, status);
 
-  auto audiotrack = MediaAnalyticsItem::create("audiotrack");
-  audiotrack->addInt32("foo", 10);
-  status = mediaMetrics->submit(audiotrack, false);
-  ASSERT_GT(status, MediaAnalyticsItem::SessionIDNone);
+  // known keys not ignored if not empty
+  audiotrack_key->addInt32("foo", 10);
+  status = mediaMetrics->submit(audiotrack_key.get());
+  ASSERT_EQ(NO_ERROR, status);
 
   mediaMetrics->dump(fileno(stdout), {} /* args */);
 }