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Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

f-droid.org

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Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#31

Post by hughesjj »

spacebanana7 wrote: post #21
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #13

At this point the access points and the global data and surveillance system is too complicated and interconnected to dis-intermediate the access point and the network itself That is to say you cannot even connect to IP addresses unless you’re already part of the global whitelist for APs Try yourself. Get a VPN and then connect from certain regions and to won’t get very far and you’ll be slooooow You’ll say, oh, that’…

It all depends what your privacy threat model is. There are very few organisations capable of identifying the human user behind a Mullvad connection with a VM. If you're worried about local law enforcement or advertisers it's probably enough.

I'm more worried about future shakeouts and the end of anonymity, one ASN at a time.

We're currently relying on AS' who 'play ball' with anonymous users, but that's not a requirement for AS operators by any means.

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#33

Post by dhosek »

I’m just thinking that the name is an invitation for Big Entertainment (in particular, LucasFilm, owned by Disney) to sue for trademark infringement since they have a trademark on “droid” (I remember seeing billboards for Android phones sold under the name “droid” back around 2010ish that had footnotes acknowledging the trademark and the licensed use of the term).

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#34

Post by mitchitized »

nradov wrote: post #12
flettcher wrote: post #8

"This project has been made possible by funding from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative: www.ngi.eu"

EU funding is the kiss of death for technology initiatives. I can confidently predict that this will go nowhere.

Why? Do they mandate process or procedure policies that kill productive organizations, or what? I'm genuinely curious.

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#35

Post by sneilan1 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #13

At this point the access points and the global data and surveillance system is too complicated and interconnected to dis-intermediate the access point and the network itself That is to say you cannot even connect to IP addresses unless you’re already part of the global whitelist for APs Try yourself. Get a VPN and then connect from certain regions and to won’t get very far and you’ll be slooooow You’ll say, oh, that’…

> The Internet is 99% controlled by a small set of corporations that most people haven’t heard of

I would love to know more if you have time to elaborate.

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#36

Post by jqpabc123 »

wyldfire wrote: post #24
jqpabc123 wrote: post #2

project works to give European citizens and organizations more choice Ok but why the geographical restriction?

It's not restricted, it's a reflection of who funded the effort. The world can benefit from EU's investment here.

So instead of

   "project works to give European citizens and organizations more choice"
it should more accurately say

   "project works to give *the world* more choice"

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#37

Post by nextos »

nradov wrote: post #12
flettcher wrote: post #8

"This project has been made possible by funding from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative: www.ngi.eu"

EU funding is the kiss of death for technology initiatives. I can confidently predict that this will go nowhere.

Yeah, public grants in the EU never work very well. However, some of the consortia members have already delivered good software.

Personally, I think someone should have bought Jolla and open-sourced Sailfish and their Android VM. Perhaps turn it into a foundation, like Signal.

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#38

Post by palata »

wicket wrote: post #32

It seems that Mobifree largely depends on the Android/AOSP ecosystem, which is controlled by Big Tech.

But being open source means that one could fork AOSP. Also the Google proprietary stuff comes with the Play Services, not AOSP.

So AOSP is a lot better than the alternatives, I would say.

I have a different feeling about Chromium: it is open source, but through it Google gets to control the future of the Web. But Android is not a standard, it's "just" one OS, so changes made by Google in AOSP don't really impact, say, iOS.

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#39

Post by nextos »

mitchitized wrote: post #34
nradov wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

EU funding is the kiss of death for technology initiatives. I can confidently predict that this will go nowhere.

Why? Do they mandate process or procedure policies that kill productive organizations, or what? I'm genuinely curious.

I've been part of some large consortia. Generally, there is a ton of paperwork. Lots of project partners focus on filling in this paperwork to pretend they are doing something and pocket grant money. But, usually, nothing good is delivered, aside from some expensive DOCX. With that said, things are changing a bit and becoming a bit more efficient and dynamic.

Re: Mobifree – An open-source mobile ecosystem

#40

Post by Aurornis »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #13

At this point the access points and the global data and surveillance system is too complicated and interconnected to dis-intermediate the access point and the network itself That is to say you cannot even connect to IP addresses unless you’re already part of the global whitelist for APs Try yourself. Get a VPN and then connect from certain regions and to won’t get very far and you’ll be slooooow You’ll say, oh, that’…

> That is to say you cannot even connect to IP addresses unless you’re already part of the global whitelist for APs

> Try yourself. Get a VPN and then connect from certain regions and to won’t get very far and you’ll be slooooow

Connecting to a far away VPN doesn’t prove anything about a “global whitelist”

VPN addresses are commonly rate limited and block listed because they’re sources of abusive traffic and therefore trigger all of the common defense mechanisms.

Anyone who has run a forum or other service long enough knows that the spammers and the people trying to evade bans love their VPNs.

VPN services are also oversubscribed, leading to poor performance. Connecting to far away locations also causes throughput problems, especially if the country has poor internet infrastructure. Your connection has to round trip into and back out of that country to get to many services, meaning performance can be very poor.

> Just try launching a competitive DNS service and see how far you get

You’ll probably get as far as realizing that it’s an extraordinarily expensive venture to operate with no possibility of income, at which point you’d shut it down unless your hobby is lighting money on fire. There isn’t a conspiracy in this.

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