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Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

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Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#121

Post by chungus_khan »

walrus01 wrote: post #49
lucideer wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not 100% sure from your comment whether you're making out that: (a). China is bad (yes, known) (b). The US is not quite as bad (debatable but for the sake of argument lets agree that this is true) (c). The US is benign My comment was only refuting the 3rd supposition. I'm not sure if you actually believe this is true. Though terms such as "country with a functioning democracy" make me think you might...

My point was absolutely not (c). The US has a vast and complex array of sociopolitical, economic disparity, racism, police brutality issues, some of which have been highlighted throughout 2020. But I definitely consider it to be the lesser of two evils.

The lesser of two evils is still collecting literally as much data as it can on you. And helping the Saudis with it too:

https://theintercept.com/2014/07/25/nsas-new-partner-spying-...

US Intelligence has too long a history of its own largely consequence-free abuses too. Someone else having a surveillance state doesn't make the one at home any better.

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#122

Post by systemvoltage »

at-fates-hands wrote: post #98
lucideer wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not 100% sure from your comment whether you're making out that: (a). China is bad (yes, known) (b). The US is not quite as bad (debatable but for the sake of argument lets agree that this is true) (c). The US is benign My comment was only refuting the 3rd supposition. I'm not sure if you actually believe this is true. Though terms such as "country with a functioning democracy" make me think you might...

> My comment was only refuting the 3rd supposition. I'm not sure if you actually believe this is true. The country is an imperfect union. Although the country attempts at every turn to work towards "A more perfect Union"; clearly we have similar issues that other countries do. In a comparative analysis, OP was merely saying the US is head and shoulders above a country that suppresses freedom of speech, eliminates pol…

2 million people. No less.

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#123

Post by LegitShady »

dheera wrote: post #85
LegitShady wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

...I returned a scale to amazon that required an app on my phone and location be on when its registered. For a scale. Wouldn't work without it.

Did it require SMS confirmation too? lol In any case I hope you gave it a 1-star review.

I did but looking for truth in amazon reviews is a work in futility anywas

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#124

Post by grishka »

aroman wrote: post #11

I recently bought a Xiaomi phone (Poco m3) for development. I was shocked to learn that in order to enable USB debug mode in developer settings, I needed to BOTH : 1) make a Xiaomi account with and 2) insert a SIM card to the device (!) Is that not insane? Other people seem to think so too: https://android.stackexchange.com/a/186052 Apparently the only alternative to this is rooting the device, which may break it.

Xiaomi phones have unlockable bootloaders, so rooting is really trivial, but guess what? You need a Xiaomi account to unlock the bootloader too! And they make you wait several days to do it.

And no, you can't break an Android device by rooting it. Worst case you'll have to reflash the system partition through recovery.

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#125

Post by systemvoltage »

I am truly appalled at the level of discussion from intellectuals as I consider on HN. Comments here are repeatedly evaluating whether the same thing would apply to US.

I expect more from HN. Can we please discuss the problem in isolation and especially the interesting technical bits? Ask yourself, this kind of exploitation is bad regardless of whether any country does something similar. It's anti-user in every possible interpretation.

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#127

Post by reaperducer »

HNfriend234 wrote: post #113
walrus01 wrote: post #7

I truly don't understand, from a security and privacy perspective, why would anyone outside of China would voluntarily choose to run closed-source software from a company that's subject to domestic laws and regulations in China. The MSS is no joke. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=china+mss... This is the same reason that Zoom is banned at my workplace and many other partner companies. You've actual…

I use a xiaomi phone and the reason I use it is because it is significantly cheaper compared to a samsung or apple phone. Example: A $200 xiaomi phone is equivalent in specs to a $600 Samsung. Also it is likely the Chinese are spying on me indirectly (data collection where the chinses military can access the data if they want to) but I really have nothing significant on me that the Chinese would want to be concerned…

I really have nothing significant on me that the Chinese would want to be concerned with me.

So you give them your email passwords? After all, you have nothing to hide.

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#128

Post by walrus01 »

grishka wrote: post #116
walrus01 wrote: post #7

I truly don't understand, from a security and privacy perspective, why would anyone outside of China would voluntarily choose to run closed-source software from a company that's subject to domestic laws and regulations in China. The MSS is no joke. https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=china+mss... This is the same reason that Zoom is banned at my workplace and many other partner companies. You've actual…

Xiaomi phones are frighteningly popular here in Russia because they're very cheap. Like, a-phone-could-not-cost-this-little cheap. A 7000₽ (around $100) phone? Why not, seems legit! And not many people really understand what Xiaomi is actually doing to offset that cost. Heck, when you open the built-in calculator app in MIUI, it has a freakin privacy policy and refuses to operate if you don't accept that. Same for th…

In large software companies that have whole GUI/human interface design departments, they do lots of R&D and testing of interfaces. Traditional things like putting people with new software interfaces in rooms with video cameras and one-way mirrors of staff watching.

It would be very interesting to see a random sampling of 20 'non technical' users presented with such a phone, and given instructions simply "here is your new phone, please unbox it and connect it to the wifi and do things on the internet for three hours". Record a video of their interactions with the screen.

In my experience the vast, overwhelming majority of people when presented with a software popup like "Do you accept the license agreement to use this calculator?" will simply click yes/accept/okay/proceed as quickly as possible and disregard what it actually means.

I have a theory that a very small percentage of persons would actually balk or become suspicious of seeing something like a privacy policy agreement for a photo gallery or music player.

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#129

Post by michaelcampbell »

buildbot wrote: post #112
michaelcampbell wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If we assume that Xiaomi aren't literally trying to spy for a government Is that even allowed by Chinese law?

I believe the implication would be they are spying for China in this case, and therefore as legal as they want it to be.

Right, I meant is it allowed by Chinese law to NOT spy for the government. As I understand it, to be allowed to operate in China as a Chinese company, you are under the obligation to provide any information you collect to the gov't upon request. Is that not the case?

Re: Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020)

#130

Post by novaRom »

> Xiaomi now announced that they will turn off collection of visited websites in incognito mode. That’s a step in the right direction, albeit a tiny one.

They may also collect fingerprints and other biometrics (voice, pictures) in a similar misleading way. There's a lot of wise tricks others have learned from Google. IMO only strict laws forbidding data collection from smartphones completely will change that.

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