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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)

#21

Post by walrus01 »

lucideer wrote: post #14
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…

Could it be the same reason anyone outside of the US would voluntarily choose to run close-source software from a company that's subject to domestic laws and regulations in the US? The ECPA is no joke.

I'm sure that a Chinese citizen would see the NSA as an equal or greater threat. The difference from my perspective is that as a citizen of a NATO country with a functioning democracy, I'm highly unlikely to be rounded up by my government and put in a prison or concentration camp for expressing my political opinions or religion.

You only need to look at the past several years of news from Hong Kong and the Uyghur/Xinjiang province situation to see the stark real world difference in human rights, political freedoms and press freedoms.

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

#22

Post by MisterTea »

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…

Same could be said for countries outside of the USA buying US tech equipment.

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

#24

Post by sandworm101 »

>>The article accuses Xiaomi of exfiltrating a history of all visited websites.

Is this our definition of spyware? I see countless articles float by on HN about super cookies, spy pixels and browser fingerprinting. Those do effectively the same things, track users against their expressed wishes, but we just don't call them spyware.

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

#25

Post by La1n »

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 agree with your statement, but I'd like to get it a bit further. Why run any closed-sourced software from (or have servers in) countries that can request you data without a fair trial (e.g. secret courts). I feel just as uncomfortable about national security letters and the NSA/CIA as the MSS, this from someone who is not living in China or the US.

I do think this shows the perks of open source software and being able to self-host or federated solutions.

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

#26

Post by aroman »

nottorp wrote: post #17
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.

Yes, I returned it and got a Samsung instead for this exact reason.

Any model to recommend? Not sure if our usecases are the same -- I wanted to find a cheap "lower end of the market" phone to test my mobile game on. Frankly, the poco m3 might even be too powerful for that purpose...

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

#28

Post by monksy »

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.

Same for the mi pad plus 4 to root it. You have to have it tied to an account for a month.

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

#30

Post by kzawisto »

nottorp wrote: post #20
okl wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, here's the link to the LineageOS device list with installation instructions. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#xiaomi

But why would you have to root and reflash it? Couldn't they, you know, respect their customer instead?

They respect their customer by selling hardware 50% off compared to Samsung and 80% off compared to apple. Having this with custom rom is a bargain imho.
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