Look at the general tone of all this thread.
The Nokia n900 was an excellent smart phone. Still would be without nearly 10 years of improved tech hardware updates.
How to stay private when using Android
141–150 of 177 posts
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#142These Android topics are always full of complete fabrications about how Android actually works (usually from Apple users, which don't know a lot about the OS). Let's see if this time is any better or we'll see Apple marketing people come out of the woods again :)
Please don't take HN threads into brand-fan flamewar or insinuate shillage or astroturfing. These things break the HN guidelines and lead to much lower-quality discussion. Your comments include substantive points—please stick to those.
I think his point is (and yes, he could have put it more nicely) that this sort of articles often turn into Android bashing and praising Apple which unfortunately steals attention from an important discussion.
This is specially annoying when people who don't understand the subject immediately enter the discussions to promote a company/product pretty much regardless the context.
I'm sad that OP was heavily downvoted and later flagged.
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#143Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Not only is it still possible to find a bank that works without a smartphone, at least in America you'd have to go dramatically out of your way to do business with a bank that only works if you have a smartphone.
The number and quality of banks that work without a phone is so much higher than the number of banks that require a phone, it's barely even worth mentioning.
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#144This article is surprisingly and disappointingly simple-minded to appear on a place called Hacker News. It's a list of things aimed at my mom, not at a "hacker", whatever meaning you assign to this term.
The most telling may well be section "5. Be wary of unknown sources" which recommends "You should never trust software from these sources". One of the key ways of making Android privacy focused is to install F-Droid and use the non-cloud alternatives it offers to all the standard Play Store crap.
Sorry, I would have expected more from something posted on Hacker News. I expect everybody here to roll their eyes when reading a heading such as "Use a PIN".
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#145Look at the general tone of all this thread. The Nokia n900 was an excellent smart phone. Still would be without nearly 10 years of improved tech hardware updates.
I'm really hoping the Pinephone, and other Linux phones succeed in creating a niche yet affordable libre phone with secure software. I ordered a developer phone simply because I'm interested and want to see what it has to offer.
The only thing that will be hard is working without my current setup of apps. A browser can only get you so far. The transition will be a little tough but i'll manage.
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#146Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is that different than Apple iPhones polling iCloud backends for your email? Or visiting websites?
I presume this false equivalence is trolling, since only one of the two firms mentioned derives ~90% of its revenue from targeting ads, and the implications should be self-evident.
> I presume this false equivalence is trolling, since only one of the two firms mentioned derives ~90% of its revenue from targeting ads, and the implications should be self-evident.
No, it's not trolling and nothing about what you wrote is self-evident. Especially when you take into account that one company is the world leader in datacenter security practices and the other is struggling with quality service development.
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#147Earlier quoted context omitted.
How is that different than Apple iPhones polling iCloud backends for your email? Or visiting websites?
Depends on what criteria you care about. In the example of polling, and the data that can leak from said polling, it's only different in the sense that we _know_ Google is evil in this equation. So if this is a concern of yours you should definitely not use Google, and you should probably not use Apple.
What the heck does "we _know_ Google is evil" actually mean?
This isn't a Marvell movie, how does doing the same thing by two different corporations make a difference beyond you buying into brand marketing?
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#148Earlier quoted context omitted.
I have no clue. https://i.imgur.com/qiKBJQf.png
Do both of you use gmail?
I'm on Fastmail. I looked back at some of my old Gmail emails and they do list items. The Fastmail emails do not. This strikes me as really weird, if anything I would expect it to be the opposite.
Regardless, it's pretty clear that Amazon doesn't universally hide order information, so my assertion that they're doing it to avoid Gmail tracking seems to be pretty objectively wrong. If they were, they would do a better job.
Note that Gmail is still tracking your purchases, that's pretty widely established, and until recently, they were using your purchase history for ads. But I'm definitely wrong about Amazon's response, and I can't track down whatever source gave me that idea.
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#149If you're looking for privacy advice for iOS, then check out iVerify from Trail of Bits. It includes automated detection for certain kinds of malware, configuration checks, and privacy guides for all the rest. Blog: https://blog.trailofbits.com/2019/11/14/introducing-iverify-... iOS App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/iverify/id1466120520 Article in VICE: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bjw474/this-app-will-t…
Aren't apps pretty heavily sandboxed on iOS? I am curious how this app has permission to read the places it needs to read to look out for stuff like malware.
Re: How to stay private when using Android
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
AFAIK one of the best solutions for smartphone privacy is using a custom Android ROM without Google apps installed. Of course that means basically no 3rd party apps, but you can still get a surprising amount of functionality with just a web browser. You’ll still get tracked by your mobile provider, but I think that would happen even with a dumbphone.
> Of course that means basically no 3rd party apps I'm using LineageOS without Play Store/Services and would like to dispel this myth. Here are just some of the third party applications I can install directly from the developer using adb, without going through a third party store: Signal, Firefox, NetGuard, NewPipe, Orgzly, OsmAnd, Tor Browser. Those pretty much cover all of my smartphone needs and more.
Three kinds of apps that are very important to me, that I cannot get without play store:
The national 2fa app. The app people use to send money to their friends, sometimes street vendors. Rideshare app.