Your smartphone tracks your location, listens to your conversations, and sells your intimate moments to data brokers.
The law pretends to regulate this, but lobbyists write the rules and enforcement is a joke.
Encryption apps aren’t enough when the hardware itself is designed to betray you.
The phone is a spy device marketed as a lifestyle accessory.
We need radical technical solutions, not incremental privacy policies that change nothing.
The surveillance economy depends on your ignorance and inaction.
Break the chain: use open hardware, de-Googled Android, or build your own tools.
#privacy #surveillance #digitalrights #antitrust
How much of your life are you willing to sell for a slightly more convenient map app?
we are all moths and the internet is the flame
What we need most at this point are hardware manufacturers that aren’t in bed with the CIA.
for a long time i have had the feeling that basically there’s only a very small number of hardware manufacturers in the world, we all know them, TSMC and others, and basically i suspect that the CIA puts some kind of spyware directly into the hardware. maybe i’m wrong here, but i have a gut feeling. we need independent hardware manufacturers, maybe stationed in europe or somewhere else in the third world altogether.
you said it yourself, encrypted apps don’t mean anything when the underlaying system is already flawed. that is the operating system and the hardware. first we need better hardware, then we need a clean, non-invasive operating system, then we need good apps. starting with good apps alone doesn’t actually do that much when your data gets siphoned off through other apps nonetheless.
This is why I’ve wanted a PDA for a while now. But nobody makes them anymore because everyone pivoted to making smartphones, so DIY would probably be one of the only options unless I want to buy used tech from I believe 2 decades ago.
We all know the title is right. Graphene OS is the answer, from what I read.
This is a legal/poltical issue more than a technology one. The good guys are the EFF, OpenRightsGroup, EDRi and others in the same side. Increasingly phone apps are forced on us to do things at all, and those apps are not only closed but only run on locked down OSs. It’s anti competitive, anti-freedom, authoritarian, etc etc.
We need to get better at convincing non-nerds. We need to stop fighting political fights by burying ourselves ever deeper in tech. Which I’m guilty of too!
💯 support EFF
Best friend is stuck on his iPhone. Does anybody have any quick and easy links that show how bad Apple is at privacy? I’ve been trying to get a few together to show him and hopefully break the cycle.
friend is stuck on his iPhone
my honest opinion is that it’s a lost cause. people superficial enough to be on an iphone in the first place probably aren’t gonna think through the deeper ramifications of privacy and information security practices at all.
Apple is pretty decent actually. If I couldn’t use GrapheneOS, I’d go for iOS.
Apple devices aren’t the best but theyre definitely not the worst. If the leaked Cellebrite documentation is to be believed then the newest devices running the latest iOS builds are well protected against hacking tools, second only to GrapheneOS. The iOS permissions system is relatively robust, lockdown mode is a good bit of extra protection too. And iirc full-disk encryption is enabled by default on iOS these days. Advanced Data Protection lets you E2E encrypt (most) cloud storage too. These are all good things
For the most part, you can set up an Apple Account without using genuine information (though the age verification thing might change this, but Google is implementing that too). For both iOS and GrapheneOS you need to either trust Apple or Google with your phone number to set up an account.
I’d be interested to hear people’s criticisms so long as they’re not just random claims with no elaboration or evidence
This is a fair assessment but Apple is getting worse as well.
It’s not as bad as Google but still pretty terrible. I too would like to see a comprehensive list on Apple issues.
i mean this with sincerity, and not as a means to further the Android vs Apple bullshit. please stop drinking cyanide.
Me reading this on Pixel 9a running GrapheneOS:
graphene is pretty good, but be careful with cell network triangulation. also careful with what apps you run on it.
I don’t like smartphones and im kinda paranoid so turned off and in an rfid blocking bag. Even with dumbphones because who knows what is hidden away active without me knowing. I would have laughed at such paranoia 15 years ago.
Cell phones started to become popular while I was in college. I still have not used one. I have a dumb phone for businesses and institutions that absolutely must call for whatever reason. Everything else can be easily handled on my computer.
Lyft/uber, airlines, hotels? Its nearly impossible to use any of those without a smartphone. Or its a huge hinderance.
I’m convinced most of the people on this instance don’t leave their basements !
Huh? I’ve flown and booked hotels recently and you absolutely do not need a smart phone for that.
Everyone has cars where I live. I’ve never needed a smartphone for a hotel. That sounds like utter nonsense.
And you’re right, I haven’t flown in decades, nor do I have any desire to, since it sounds like a nightmare.
Is this a post just tilting the blame and impetus for escaping closed hardware on the user and nothing else? Because I’ll buy a Jolla or a Fairphone when my current phone dies, maybe, if I can afford it. All your post does is position true privacy as a hobbyists niche.
exactly right. positioning the solution as "buy different hardware and swap OSs’ is short term thinking that solves the problem for the individual and exactly nobody else.
privacy should not be niche, it should be standard. go to city council meetings and make your voice known during flock safety hearings. write your legislators to make your stance known on OS DOB registry. its not nearly as cool as a de-googled phone you can show your friends. its not technical. but we’re sliding backwards because we’re distracted from tried and true solutions.
i dream about a phone with hw switch, which would be used to lock the screen and at the same moment it would physically disconnect microphone, camera, and gps module.
not saying it is complete solution to the privacy problem, but it would be good start.
Would need to disable the cell radios, wifi and bluetooth too since those are also used to track device location.
Fairphone 6 with e/OS can use its physical switch to disable camera & microphone. Its only SW disabling but it forces app that want to use it request it. There’s also privacy setting that gives apps fake geo data.
Its not perfect but any improvement is good.
the pinephone does that, its not built into the lock screen button but, it has a switch for most the privacy central features.
did not know that. but from the image, that seems like something that is inside of the phone? not really something you casually flip on the street.
my idea is that anytime you would flip the switch and lock the screen to put the phone in the pocket, its spying capabilities would be physically disabled.
I actually have one I’m not using at the moment. The switches at within the back cover but that’s easily able to be reached within 5 seconds or so with no tools. It’s not exactly something you would be flipping on and off regularly though unless you had a very specific use case.
Anything that isn’t a hardware switch potentially leads itself to being bypassed, so the switches are your best bet for being sure it’s disabled.
Edit: there’s also this (I linked the case which shows the switches) phone which has switches on the outside for this purpose. I don’t know anyone who has used this one however.
Yea you are right, the privacy switches are under the battery cover, so it requires taking the cover off flipping the switch and putting it back on again.
The cover is made similar to how the Acatels are if you have ever used them, so its a pry instead of a slide which is annoying, but at least its there, in my opinion its a design defect, I think the switch would have worked better if the cover was a slide like how the old Samsungs were prior to going to the non-removable battery layout
How much of your life are you willing to sell for a slightly more convenient map app?
30% max
However much is earned by time saved by that app.
I stopped using openstreetmap because it wasn’t reliable enough for me. I found myself going the wrong direction, or not finding what I wanted to find and having to swap back anyway.
I liked the goal but, it just wasn’t a valid tool for me.
The thing is changing your life to not need a precise maps app, instead of looking an app to fit your life.
To be clear, most businesses are in specific locations, not like a general area.
There’s a bullet proof old tech called communication, you reach someone in the street, or any business around there and ask questions about where the specific location you’re looking for is located.
Not having a map when going to a new location is one of the most anxiety triggering things for me. They have been lifesavers in helping me get out more.
But OSM provides a map. What exactly are you talking about?
I thought the problem was people depending too much on Google Maps because its privacy invasive data harvesting.
It often gives incorrect maps simply because of update schedule and them encouraging not reporting construction <3 months or whatever.
We have construction all over in Belgium and tons of detours such that it makes open street map pretty much unusable as it will just incessantly reroute you to a blocked path even after you are well on a different route.
You said precise maps apps and ‘an app to fit your life’, not closed source corpo map sources.
I’m fine with using open source if it’s capable of navigating me around without issue, I’m not fine with not having an app too fit my life or be precise.
Yea but the main thread of this comment is talking about:
How much of your life are you willing to sell for a slightly more convenient map app?
Usually when people say that on a privacy perspective it refers to how impossible is to ditch Google Maps because of its live traffic things and other things like Android Auto.
So I replied saying you should change your life to not depend on such apps, not your apps to fit in your lifestyle.
Yes but I replied to your post, not a top level comment in response to the thread.
I firmly agree. It’s a give and take, I don’t have the time or energy to spend a couple hours mapping the local area on OSM that way it can be properly used. I did that for my home town, and then realized that outside of big corporate entities, it wasn’t done at all for any of the surrounding towns or even cities. To me having an accurate map with ability to give directions and traffic reports is worth more than my location data.
Preaching to the choir here buddy
I would love to think its just a hardware and software issue, it is a habit issue too - i am keen to get away from my phone. I am starting to detest it.
But we do still need things that genuinely aid us. People do need maps. and bank apps on the go. I am trying to break my habits. I have been tempted to go back to a nokia flip but i need a map. I miss the days of flips, that satisfying clip closed. The actual physical act of opening it.
I will be moving to graphene pretty soon but its still a touchscreen, and even if i buy second hand it bumps google prices, i begrudge that. Jolla is too far away and a tad on the pricey side. Motorola is still another big brand just producing touch screen smart phones that lean towards bad habits. I would love a physical switch too.
Google gets nothing from you if you purchase second hand.
It still keeps their hardware in demand and pricier.
lineageOS on 1 of the hundreds of nonBoogle phones?
Can someone explain what data Samsung would be harvesting If you disable google play store and only use f droid apps? How can I see what data ia being keamed from my phone?
Of course, we know for a fact if you install the Facebook app it records you night and day. But none of us use that garbage.
I have to stay in this phone for a couple years still until i get a graphene pixel. Ive disabled everything I can on it and never update it.
