91–100 of 188 posts
I'd support regulation forcing Google to permit users to install our own root CA certs.
The purpose of buying a OnePlus device is to get decent hardware for an okay price (I have the 3T), and then take advantage of their unlocked bootloader and the multitudes of highly functional kernels for it. Sultan's LineageOS ROMs are quite nice and even include WireGuard. If you're not immediately removing non-free OxygenOS when you receive your phone, you're most certainly already doing it wrong, data collection…
So, I owned the OnePlus One, two OnePlus 3T and currently run the OnePlus 5. I always used CM (or LineageOS) before the 5, they never completed the first setup once before I unlocked the bootloader, thereby reset to factory and I flashed a different ROM right away. Right now I'm on the stock ROM (and affected ofc) though. Question time: 1) Do you use your camera? I had the feeling that everytime I went from stock to…
This is really shocking, this data along with my google data can be used to learn a lot more about the user like what i surf when, how much time i use my mobile in office and what do i use it for. I am wondering if there is a way to corrupt the data being sent by some way masking or sending gibberish data. For me rooting is not an option because my office email will not work on a rooted device.
I have absolutely no doubt there is some data centre in Shenzhen full of my Huawei phone metrics! I think this is the biggest issue with android phones, they are full of potential data leakages like this. Privacy is definitely a concern and a pull factor to getting an iPhone again. There is a lot to be said for a company that is focused on hardware and not on serving content to that device. Then again it's also a rea…
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphon...
I have absolutely no doubt there is some data centre in Shenzhen full of my Huawei phone metrics! I think this is the biggest issue with android phones, they are full of potential data leakages like this. Privacy is definitely a concern and a pull factor to getting an iPhone again. There is a lot to be said for a company that is focused on hardware and not on serving content to that device. Then again it's also a rea…
This makes me wonder: why can we have a top of the line desktop PC which is totally libre, but not a smartphone? What has gone wrong?
IBM took on the personal computer market and made the PC standard, which launched the chain of backwards compatibility that continues to this day. Because they did this in 1981, the idea of "secure bootloaders" was not on their radar. By the time anyone started thinking along those lines, the standard was well entrenched; this same standard gave Linux and other free OSs a relatively static target to hit, just as the internet was gaining ground (a force multiplier for hippie free-software types). Before PC clones took off, every home computer was a different design, OSs were specific to each model, and open alternate OSs were not really a "thing".
For a glimpse of an alternate history where these things happened in a slightly different order, take a look at TI graphing calculators; each is a bespoke microcomputer using very 80s-ish technology (z80/m68k cpus, built-in BASIC etc) and each has RSA signed OS images, the keys for which were only factored in 2009. Even now that every single microscopic detail of the hardware is known, and the keys available, alternative OSs are niche and usually incomplete projects confined to a single model, because there is no standard to target.
All we have now is a reversion to the natural order of things, permitted by the shift to "mobile" breaking all the rules and allowing all the norms to be reset.
I have absolutely no doubt there is some data centre in Shenzhen full of my Huawei phone metrics! I think this is the biggest issue with android phones, they are full of potential data leakages like this. Privacy is definitely a concern and a pull factor to getting an iPhone again. There is a lot to be said for a company that is focused on hardware and not on serving content to that device. Then again it's also a rea…
> I feel I can trust Google with my data more than some other android manufacturer or reseller. Sure they'll serve me more adverts, but it's to some ends at least. I'm not sure I understand this logic. Can you explain your reasoning here? What makes Google different? Is it just about data security (e.g. you don't care what anyone does with your data as long as they don't leak it publicly)?
It's business is fundamentally about trust, people trusting its services, I feel it offers good data security on its accounts and it offers services that I am happy I don't have to pay for. Almost 2 decades of email services, search, and drive space is something I'm glad I never pay for.
In certain cases I do keep data away from Google, I'll never upload all my photos to google photos, or put my media collection on a google drive, and i'll keep certain documents locally, but for the majority of the ephemera in my life, it's a fine place to leave it.
Nothing about my life is really that important or sensitive that security is a must and I need to be completely clandestine, if I leave a trail of breadcrumbs for someone to use to pipe adverts at me, so be it, but I can always stop them in browser with a good ad-blocker or a network level filter.
If I want that level of privacy I can always go down the proton-mail account route and use PGP or encrypted messaging. Although that's not really necessary when I'm just send my GF a gif of a seal playing a saxophone or deciding if I cook fajitas for dinner!
I have absolutely no doubt there is some data centre in Shenzhen full of my Huawei phone metrics! I think this is the biggest issue with android phones, they are full of potential data leakages like this. Privacy is definitely a concern and a pull factor to getting an iPhone again. There is a lot to be said for a company that is focused on hardware and not on serving content to that device. Then again it's also a rea…
Alternate idea: get rid of the smartphone. There are many benefits. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphon...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google is also a US company, which means you at least have a different set of intelligence agencies after you. Given those two options, I think I’d prefer to give my data to the NSA, not the Chinese government.
Hmm, I'm in the opposite boat - China can't extradite me or arrest me. I'd much rather my information be in the hands of Chinese intelligence agencies than American ones.
This is why I have no desire to upgrade to a new Android device and why I put my money into the Librem 5 project. This data collection is beyond ridiculous and if it's not already illegal, it should be.
Or just run LineageOS?
I have absolutely no doubt there is some data centre in Shenzhen full of my Huawei phone metrics! I think this is the biggest issue with android phones, they are full of potential data leakages like this. Privacy is definitely a concern and a pull factor to getting an iPhone again. There is a lot to be said for a company that is focused on hardware and not on serving content to that device. Then again it's also a rea…
This makes me wonder: why can we have a top of the line desktop PC which is totally libre, but not a smartphone? What has gone wrong?
But since you end up with essentially the same OS with essentially the same userspace doing essentially the same thing it raises questions of why go through the effort and hassle. You're completely free to do so, though.
You will, however, still end up with binary black box device drivers. Just like you do on a top of the line desktop if you want to actually fully use the hardware.