How to stay private when using Android • Hacker News Board

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#51

Post by Terretta » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

singron wrote: post #29

izacus wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you please list a few privacy violations that create the track record? Comparable to e.g. Apple giving Siri voice recordings to 3rd party contractors without the ability to disable it? I'm sure it'll be easy, easier than downvotes.

For example, turning off "location history" didn't prevent Google from tracking your location history. You had to also disable "web and app activity".

More to the point, none of this matters when you’re continuously polling Google’s API endpoints for your email.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#52

Post by itvision » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:27 PM UTC

> How to stay private when using Android

1. Stop using Android.

FTFY

> How to stay private in general

1. Stop using the smartphone - some of its tracking features are near impossible to disable

2. Use VPN or/and TOR

3. Enable either DNS over TLS and DNS over HTTPS

4. Never login anywhere

5. Use the most common OS (Windows 10 at the moment) + the most common web browser (Chrome at the moment)

6. Make sure your web browser locale is set to English

7. Set your system timezone to US

8. Make sure your desktop resolution is 1920x1080 and your Chrome and Windows are as default as possible

9. Do not install any additional fonts

10. Install a single extension which hides your WebGL vendor string e.g. WebGL Fingerprint Defender

11. Do NOT visit websites from your country (it's quite easy to match your VPN traffic patterns with local websites visits and de-anonimize you)

12. for each site that you visit: * Clean all web browser data before visiting it * Close the browser * Open the browser again * Open your website

I've probably missed something like canvas fingerprinting protection, JS timings detection, CPU concurrency detection, etc. etc. etc.

TLDR: It's near impossible to browse the web without being tracked if the company which wants to track you has the resources for that. Web browsers and the web were not designed this way.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#53

Post by api » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

MobileVet wrote: post #19

decasteve wrote: post #8

> 7. Review your cloud sync I used an Android device for a short while a few years ago. I disabled all sync functionality and would back up to my own storage device. After an OS update, all of the sync functionality was automatically enabled and everything on the device was uploaded to Google’s services anyway. So I deleted everything that was uploaded, then deleted my google account, and bought an iPhone and swore t…

This is so infuriating. sadly the majority of people have no idea just how deep the rabbit whole goes. They and their data are exploited at every turn for the gain of Google.

Everything on the Internet has to be "free," so that's the business model.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#54

Post by danShumway » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:28 PM UTC

izacus wrote: post #21

andrepd wrote: post #2

Unfortunately all of these things are bandages on a sinking ship. They're technically better than nothing, but in reality they simply do not fix the problem. Even worse, it's possible (even probably) that some privacy controls simply do not do the think they say they do. You are essentially trusting a company with a rubbish track record in privacy violations to pinky swear they stop tracking you when you toggle a swi…

Can you please list a few privacy violations that create the track record? Comparable to e.g. Apple giving Siri voice recordings to 3rd party contractors without the ability to disable it? I'm sure it'll be easy, easier than downvotes.

1. Google tracked user location even when location history was turned off.

2. Most people don't understand the full extent of Web and App Activity permissions -- they don't understand that this will allow Google to do things like parse search queries out of DuckDuckGo searches on Chrome.

3. Similarly (until recently) most people didn't realize that Google was using email info for advertising, including purchases made at competitors. This is the reason why none of your Amazon purchase confirmations list the items you purchased any more. They didn't want Google to be able to read them. Also no way to opt out until enterprise pressure forced Google to eventually promise to stop using the data... for ads.

4. On the subject of Siri, Google's voice assistant was also responsible for giving recordings to 3rd party contractors without the ability to disable it, and most users weren't aware this was happening.

5. Until consumer backlash forced them to stop, Google Maps also aggregated user wifi network names. This would open the door to determine location information based purely on what Wifi networks were stored on your device.

> I'm sure it'll be easy, easier than downvotes.

The reason you're getting downvotes is because this stuff is really easy to research[0], and other commenters don't believe you're engaging in good faith -- they think you're just trying to waste their time by asking them to list out examples that are common knowledge. A downvote is much easier and faster for them.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_concerns_regarding_Goo...

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#55

Post by squarefoot » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:30 PM UTC

decasteve wrote: post #8

> 7. Review your cloud sync I used an Android device for a short while a few years ago. I disabled all sync functionality and would back up to my own storage device. After an OS update, all of the sync functionality was automatically enabled and everything on the device was uploaded to Google’s services anyway. So I deleted everything that was uploaded, then deleted my google account, and bought an iPhone and swore t…

While it is undeniably true that Android, just as any other networked product by Google, is a nightmare with respect to privacy, I hardly believe that Apple doesn't collect any user data. They very likely want to remain the #1 solution for wealthy people who don't want their communications to be bugged, and they're surely much much better than Google in that context, still I don't trust them because their product is even more closed than Android, therefore impossible to audit just as Android.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#56

Post by hindsightbias » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:32 PM UTC

johnsea wrote: post #39

emodendroket wrote: post #22

If you want to stay private, give up the idea of a smartphone altogether. If you (quite understandably) do not want to do that, you're pretty much just kidding yourself.

It's not all or nothing privacy. If you give up Android/Google Play (and Facebook etc.) you have a much smaller exposure. Buy an iPhone or a Jolla (or, maybe in future, PinePhone or Librem). Then use Firefox with uBO, DuckDuckGo and Fastmail. And you have a much better privacy in 2020.

uBlock Origin is not on iOS.

There is FF Focus, but not sure how much more secure that is.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#57

Post by tcd » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:32 PM UTC

jblz wrote: post #35

swiley wrote: post #13

I hate iOS but good god android is awful! I bought a cheap one on new years to use as a balloon tracker (GPS boards are expensive so it seemed like a good idea.) There are absolutely no diagnostics, every setting (including critical ones) seems to move around between OS updates. They’re constantly breaking things you actually need (termux API is missing half of what’s useful and silently fails on most things now) whi…

> "android is awful!" ... "I bought a cheap one" Nothing like condemning the entirety of a thing based on a single limited intentionally-bottom-of-the-barrel experience!

Android is awful regardless of device you buy. Google's control is an absolute disaster for an OS.

If Google is involved, expect 0 privacy.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#58

Post by Benjammer » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:33 PM UTC

squarefoot wrote: post #55

decasteve wrote: post #8

> 7. Review your cloud sync I used an Android device for a short while a few years ago. I disabled all sync functionality and would back up to my own storage device. After an OS update, all of the sync functionality was automatically enabled and everything on the device was uploaded to Google’s services anyway. So I deleted everything that was uploaded, then deleted my google account, and bought an iPhone and swore t…

While it is undeniably true that Android, just as any other networked product by Google, is a nightmare with respect to privacy, I hardly believe that Apple doesn't collect any user data. They very likely want to remain the #1 solution for wealthy people who don't want their communications to be bugged, and they're surely much much better than Google in that context, still I don't trust them because their product is…

Apple's incentives as a product business align much better with user privacy than Google's incentives as an ad business though.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#59

Post by jekei939k » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:33 PM UTC

api wrote: post #53

MobileVet wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is so infuriating. sadly the majority of people have no idea just how deep the rabbit whole goes. They and their data are exploited at every turn for the gain of Google.

Everything on the Internet has to be "free," so that's the business model.

The assumption it must be a big corporation providing such services is the problem.

Of course it’s the American way to let the aristocracy dictate how the rules are interpreted, despite the whole free tough guy bravado thing.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#60

Post by elric » Wed, Jan 01, 2020, 4:37 PM UTC

johnsea wrote: post #44

elric wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the alternatives? The iphone is prohibitively expensive for most people, and it's unacceptable that privacy should only be available to the wealthy. There's basically an Android/iOS "duopoly" out there, and it's only getting worse. There are now bank accounts that are unusable without a smart phone app, and guess which platforms are supported...Google Play and Apple App Store. And don't even think about side…

There a secondhand iPhones (it's also better for the environment). Otherwise no alternative than using a desktop computer and forego some smart conveniences.

There are literally banks out there that are unusable without an Android/Apple smartphone. And while it's currently still possible to use a bank that isn't as insane, I expect this trend will only get worse. It'll no longer be a case of foregoing some smart conveniences, but about being able to access important parts of the economy.