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E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

e.foundation

101–110 of 137 posts

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#102

Doesn't /e/ just take Lineage OS, install microg on top of it add their crappy launcher, and then take $$$ as donations. If anyone deserves donations its Lineage or MicroG. Donate upstream instead of this.

They do fund the MicroG developer: https://web.archive.org/web/20200817144004/https://e.foundat...

See also https://community.e.foundation/t/microg-what-you-need-to-kno...

I think part of their approach is also to sell refurbished phones (or, in partnership with Fairphone, new ones) with /e/ preinstalled, lowering the barrier to entry. There might be more, but I'm not too familiar with them.

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#103

/e/ is mud among the LineageOS community (which is upstream of it), due to several reasons. Sadly I can't find the relevant /r/lineageOS posts . Here's some reading that covers the basic points though: https://intangiblesheep.neocities.org/rants/eelo.html https://web.archive.org/web/20191224031946/https://ewwlo.xyz...

I kinda agree with the sentiment in the articles from an AOSP/lineage/cyanogen perspective. They should definitely embrace the Telegram FOSS fork [1] and OSMAnd~ [2] (which is a superb offline navigation tool btw) and remove all Apps that require the Android 10 firebase hockey-based notifications. [5] and [6] A lot of apps use this for convenience and because it was _required_ since AOSP 10 but there are ways to work…

> he issue with current Firefox and TOR Browser is that Mozilla decided to include [...]

Those are all completely stubbed out in Tor Browser Android. I helped with some work on that a few years back.

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#104
post #53
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The original developer of CopperheadOS is continuing the work as GrapheneOS, after a split with his former business partner, over dilutions of the privacy guarantees, among other things. https://grapheneos.org/

Always feels like treading google for some other random developers

> random developers

Micay, of GrapheneOS and original creator of CopperheadOS, is not some random. They have pushed AOSP security ahead and have made many upstream contributions over the years.

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#105
Last I checked /e/ sells devices with unlocked bootloaders, known vendor security flaws, and known vulnerable kernels. They also include a number of proprietary apps. And at one point were sending off your exact location for weather lookup over HTTP to a proprietary service. Extremely immoral.

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#106
post #57

There were several privacy problems with this ROM, not sure if they corrected it. https://infosec-handbook.eu/blog/e-foundation-first-look/

Thanks, interesting article. Note that at the bottom of the article, they link to a second review they did months later: https://infosec-handbook.eu/blog/e-foundation-final-look/

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#107

Had me until it mentioned "the cloud" Does it force you to have data on the cloud? Or can you get by without using the cloud? Simply put: I don't want anyone having my data anywhere apart from me and my device.

I've been using it for a few weeks: It doesn't force you to put anything on the cloud. If you choose to create an /e/ account, it makes it easy to sync/backup to their cloud services, but it's completely optional. Unlike Google or Apple, you're not required to create a cloud account just to use your own device.

Can you easily drop to a command line and just rsync your data to a remote host ?

... asking for a friend ...

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#108
post #97
post #13

One of the things that feels a bit problematic here - the webpage is avoiding mention of the fact that this is still Android. In essence, this is still Google's OS and the team has decided to start a fight against Google by taking their opensource and perpetually fight against the main developer by removing their proprietary component. I don't think this is a fight that's sustainable - a giant graveyard of Android pr…

On the other hand by being Android you get to run all the Android apps out there. What I seek in a phone is control over my privacy, not necessarily a vegan FOSS system. What that means is things like: - Fine-grained control of permissions to apps (e.g. access to rear camera only, access to only city-level accuracy of locations, access to read from only directories I specify) - For apps that insist on having permissi…

so much this! I want XPrivacy out of the box, and whats with the blocking me from recording my own calls? I want that too.

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#109
post #108
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand by being Android you get to run all the Android apps out there. What I seek in a phone is control over my privacy, not necessarily a vegan FOSS system. What that means is things like: - Fine-grained control of permissions to apps (e.g. access to rear camera only, access to only city-level accuracy of locations, access to read from only directories I specify) - For apps that insist on having permissi…

so much this! I want XPrivacy out of the box, and whats with the blocking me from recording my own calls? I want that too.

Yes, call recording as well. If I own a device, I should be able to command it to do anything that it is technologically capable of.

Re: E Foundation – deGoogled unGoogled smartphone OS and online services

#110

/e/ is mud among the LineageOS community (which is upstream of it), due to several reasons. Sadly I can't find the relevant /r/lineageOS posts . Here's some reading that covers the basic points though: https://intangiblesheep.neocities.org/rants/eelo.html https://web.archive.org/web/20191224031946/https://ewwlo.xyz...

I kinda agree with the sentiment in the articles from an AOSP/lineage/cyanogen perspective. They should definitely embrace the Telegram FOSS fork [1] and OSMAnd~ [2] (which is a superb offline navigation tool btw) and remove all Apps that require the Android 10 firebase hockey-based notifications. [5] and [6] A lot of apps use this for convenience and because it was _required_ since AOSP 10 but there are ways to work…

What about Fennec from f-droid? Does it have telemetry enabled as well?
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