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Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

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Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then next time Windows is updated it re-enables all of that garbage.

That is what gave me the final push to move my PCs to linux. I kept disabling Cortana and telemetry and every update it would be back.

Same story BTW. I held back to Windows 7 for as long as it was feasible, and then switched to Linux. Was painful at first, but freedom has a price.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I want is a Maemo-based phone, with at least 20% marketshare and an Android compat layer so there is an ecosystem to support it, and the same camera as any other flagship level phone.

Well you can buy an Xperia 10 which whilst isn’t a super high end phone is still pretty decent and it runs SailFishOS... but then again you can probably count the number of people that did that on your fingers. The issue is that whilst people want it there is never a good enough “reason” for that other than I want it, Maemo doesn’t give you more freedom than what AOSP does already at least not on the software level,…

The problem I see is that distributed collective action, like a bunch of people all choosing to support one contender against the duopoly, isn't achievable by the open source ecosystem. It's fragmentary by design and by personality. So there are a lot of things you "can" do, but no turn-key solution I can buy from a store or download from GitLab.

The other problem is that you have to choose between hardware quality and customization, because hardware is locked down and there isn't enough economic air left in the room for a third player to be able to invest enough to compete.

As for not looking much different from Android, the key difference would be where the control lies, and what the mindset is around control. You should have a robust code signing and containerization/permissions system, but those should be in the hands of users. With Android every single app installs with permission to portscan every network you connect it to. You will have an app store, but the user will come first, not the ad network.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Usually I'm a sceptic about Linux taking over the world, but this is actually the one situation where I could believe substantial progress might be made. If someone developed a slick UI for the basic phone functionality and a genuinely open Linux-based platform, provided compatibility with the major APIs needed to write Android apps so portability was easy, and maybe even funded the whole thing using an app store tha…

At that point what’s the difference between this and Android, unlock your bootloader, download AOSP and hack away...

At that point what’s the difference between this and Android

How many major phones can you buy with AOSP installed by default today?

How much development gets done on AOSP that isn't at least heavily influenced by the direction Google takes?

Does AOSP provide comprehensive privacy and security options for users but still freely connect with other devices and services using open standards?

Obviously if you're going to be Linux-based and if we're assuming some degree of compatibility with Android APIs to make porting apps easy then there is going to be common ground with AOSP, but I don't think that makes it the only or necessarily the best option.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#164

Good that the root cause is being addressed. In the meantime, I'll be reducing the symptoms by routing all my DNS traffic through my pi.hole instance.

I wouldn't be surprised if these mentioned apps comes with google's dns resolvers baked in, in that case routing through pihole doesn't help here.

I set up a rule on my router to drop any DNS traffic and DoH traffic to well known DNS providers unless it comes from the server running pihole. Otherwise it was proving very hard to find out how to force applications / mobile devices to use my DNS server.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#165

I recently got a new phone and the battery life doubled once I disabled all the default permissions on google apps. I knew they were consuming battery but that's a lot.

Can you please share more details. I would like to replicate.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PiHole is no use on mobile data

setup a vpn to your home network

I'm interested in setting up my homelab to monitor and detect rogue traffic that would have caught my phone doing what was described in the article. Does anyone have any open-source suggestions for DIY deep-packet analysis?

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#168
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maps with live traffic is going to be the tough one; at least it is for me.

I live in London U.K. and have done 400 miles this year. Decided I’m going to get rid of the car in the new year. That solves the problem :)

You city people with your public transit. :D Doesn't really work when half the people I know live more than an hour's drive away.

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#169
post #134
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s not saying 175MB per month is ok, that could also be problematic. It’s saying 350MB per month is clearly excessive as demonstrated by a company using half that.

350MB is clearly excessive, and so is 175MB. Neither helps make a point about the other, though. It's about what's transferred, and about permission. What I want now is an open source Android device where I have controls. The #1 things I want to control is app permissions. I should be able to shut them down. If an app "needs" my location, it should get a random spot in the world. If it "needs" my contacts, it should…

I use glasswire which kinda some some of this. In addition to your list I would also be interested in setting up my homelab to monitor and detect rogue traffic that would have caught my phone doing what was described in the article.

Does anyone have any open-source suggestions for DIY deep-packet analysis?

Re: Google sued: Idle Android eats mobile data to send telemetry and preload ads

#170

These bits of litigation are interesting, but my usual takeaway is a mild contempt for the whole thing. Whether it's something minor like this or a major antitrust cases (eg, the recent adwords EU case), what is and isn't legally actionable seems arbitrary from a non-legal perspective. Even legislation efforts like european "cookie laws" and such seem bumbling and naive. What's the legal fix to this, assuming google…

The answer here has been obvious for many years. Clearly, there is a conflict of interest in having an organization interested in selling ads to also make one of the worlds most widely used operating systems. So we break them up. We regulate their conduct, we interrogate their business and ensure there is no apparent conflicts of interest going on. Mobile OS solutions LTD would develop Android OS, wouldn't unduly fav…

How is Mobile OS Solutions Ltd going to make money in this scenario?
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