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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)

#301

Post by bombcar »

goodells wrote: post #294

Related to Xiaomi, the company is also doing some sketchy things in the smart home space under their brand "Aqara". I use HomeKit in my apartment and opted for Aqara branded wireless buttons and temp/humidity sensors because of the attractive hardware and good reviews. The devices require a wi-fi connected hub, not too strange for things that use Zigbee, so I gave that a go. Well, on cursory examination, the Aqara/Xi…

It’s absolutely infuriating how many IoT devices round trip to the cloud for no good reason at all.

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

#302

Post by nicolas_t »

phpisatrash wrote: post #2

Really interesting. But whether what Xiaomi browser does it's a spyware, what's is Google? Does Google collects our navigation data? (Yes if we are using chrome or android and logged in) Does Google knows what videos and what kind of videos do we watch? (Do you need an answer?) Call it's a spyware because is a chinese company? Really? Nah. Google does the same or at least worst than it. I'm neither defending Xiami no…

Well yes, I also call Chrome a spyware and don't use it. That's why I use firefox. And from what I read on HN, other people say the same thing about Chrome.

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

#303

Post by nicolas_t »

nirui wrote: post #289
Roritharr wrote: post #281

I wonder more about their routers. For their specs they are extremely price competitive. Their AX6000 features a 2,5GBE Port, 4*4 5GHZ Antennas with supposedly 4800mbit/s max throughput over all clients for 120€ with shipping to the EU. The Netgear Orbi Pro is the only AP I could find that is similarly equipped and costs a handsome 400€. The mostly chinese and russian reviews on YouTube seem to show those numbers to…

Well, if you're patient enough to sit through all the Chinese text, here is the teardown (with picture) you've been looking for: https://www.acwifi.net/12621.html . Also that router is currently on sell on JD.COM ( https://item.jd.com/100017450204.html ) priced at ￥599.00, about 80€ I guess. There are rumors says Xiao Mi has somewhat subsidized their line ups with intention to create their own ecosystem. If true, tha…

On the other hand, ￥599 is not exactly cheap in China. Somebody can literally survive a entire month on that amount of money. -> Not in any major tier 1 or tier 2 cities. Used to be possible a long time ago but nowadays, that'd be really tough

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

#304

Post by biglost »

mohaine wrote: post #288
matheusmoreira wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> we need tools that don't require so much blind trust Completely agree. > Open source and verifiable down to the firmware is the only chance we have at any real level of trust The hardware itself could be compromised though. There's just no way to know what's really inside these black boxes. https://youtu.be/_eSAF_qT_FY We'll never have real trust until we get the ability to fabricate our own processors in our own h…

This doesn't help completely unless you fabricated the fabricator on trusted parts as well. Unless you trust it there is nothing to prove that the fabricator isn't inserting back doors into whatever it prints.

https://wiki.c2.com/?TheKenThompsonHack

https://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/hh/thompson/trust.html

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

#305

Post by nialv7 »

goodells wrote: post #294

Related to Xiaomi, the company is also doing some sketchy things in the smart home space under their brand "Aqara". I use HomeKit in my apartment and opted for Aqara branded wireless buttons and temp/humidity sensors because of the attractive hardware and good reviews. The devices require a wi-fi connected hub, not too strange for things that use Zigbee, so I gave that a go. Well, on cursory examination, the Aqara/Xi…

> The devices require a wi-fi connected hub, not too strange for things that use Zigbee

Wait, why would Zigbee devices require Wi-Fi connection? That would be a red flag for me, I would have avoided products like this.

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

#306

Post by baybal2 »

bombcar wrote: post #301
goodells wrote: post #294

Related to Xiaomi, the company is also doing some sketchy things in the smart home space under their brand "Aqara". I use HomeKit in my apartment and opted for Aqara branded wireless buttons and temp/humidity sensors because of the attractive hardware and good reviews. The devices require a wi-fi connected hub, not too strange for things that use Zigbee, so I gave that a go. Well, on cursory examination, the Aqara/Xi…

It’s absolutely infuriating how many IoT devices round trip to the cloud for no good reason at all.

The thing is, they really don't. They just stop working after few minutes of no connectivity.

No real roundtrip happening.

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

#308

Post by baybal2 »

giantrobot wrote: post #255
sammorrowdrums wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Genuinely, I really want to see Purism succeed and increasing numbers of competitors in that space, because we need tools that don't require so much blind trust. Whether caused by inept software devs, scope for malicious code / backdoors in firmware, analytics spyware, and whether this stuff is well intentioned or not, if it can be abused, it will be. Open source and verifiable down to the firmware is the only chance…

Purism is never going to end up with fully open source baseband firmware. It's not going to happen because the radios are subject to several regulations which means customers can't be able to modify that firmware. There's going to always be a trust hole.

Who said you cannot? Just do it, and see.

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

#309

Post by rsj_hn »

ptx wrote: post #177
grishka wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The photo editor on my Sony phone keeps telling me it wants to send data to Sony and refuses to open when I decline. So the Chinese are no worse than the Americans and, apparently, the Japanese in this regard.

Wow, so because of this one example you conclude "So the Chinese are no worse than the Americans and, apparently, the Japanese in this regard."

You are saying that if you can find a single example of X happening in domain A and a single example of X happening in domain B, then "apparently" A and B must be "no different" with respect to X. People are murdered in Japan. People are murdered in Brazil. Thus Japan is no different than Brazil with respect to murders.

Please please tell me that you are just being inflammatory and that this "find one example" criteria isn't how you go about making assessments of things.

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