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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)

#361

Post by MaanuAir »

walrus01 wrote: post #44
serial_dev wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, people give US companies way to much slack... But then what am I supposed to do if I'm European? The US and China pretty much covers the mobile market (and what's not covered is still not European).

From a purely pragmatic point of view: If you're European...? Consider that your country is likely either already a five eyes member, or a "five eyes plus" member with a historical record going back 45+ years of intelligence/law enforcement data sharing between the various NATO governments' intelligence agencies. And take a risk calculation, based on what you're doing in your life, if all your metadata and traffic wa…

Threat model, I get that.

The simple fact that this explanation can exist and is somewhat commonly agreed by tech-savvy people is... disturbing in some way.

I mean, underlying are freedom, rights, security, surveillance, But also geopolitics, economics, philosophy maybe.

Just behind some daily tech.

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

#362

Post by ornornor »

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…

I use some xiaomi connected lamps. First thing I did was connect them to home assistant via a dedicated VLAN that has no internet access. I see pages and pages of denied connections in the firewall from the smart lamps. They work with HA just fine, I just wonder what they’re trying to do with these servers. This is pure speculation but I’m convinced that all these smart devices from China are the largest state sponsored Trojan horse program in history. They’re probably not interested in you and me but since everyone and their dog has these devices, it’s possible to access and infiltrate any given high value target with these. No one even knows what’s in the firmware. I have no illusions other countries are doing the same, but none have the reach that Chinese branded electronics do. Bar google maybe.

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

#363

Post by pferdone »

ckozlowski wrote: post #161
chomp wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know you were referring to Google, that is why I made the point about Google. Xiaomi is a tech company with a personal data spying program and is worth maybe 50 billion, and supposedly the "4th most valuable startup in the world," if you trust Wikipedia. My point is that the valuation is based on the profit potential that investors see, not how ethical either company actually is. And both derive a non-zero amount o…

There's a big difference between Google exploiting private data to sell you more things, and a different company exploiting private data to hand over to a police agency that arrests individuals for having the wrong political views. I'm not suggesting the former is without fault, and fault by one does not absolve another. But you're right in that these are two very, very different things.

Did we forget about PRISM[0]? It's all the same, just different labels depending which side you're on.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program)

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

#364

Post by eznzt »

BelenusMordred wrote: post #360
yurielt wrote: post #359

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How also can you make a guide of how to do it?

iptables -I INPUT -m geoip --src-cc CH -j DROP iptables -I OUTPUT -m geoip --src-cc CH -j DROP No guide needed.

CH is not China but Switzerland.

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

#365

Post by jhvkjhk »

paulcarroty wrote: post #352
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 Aqara/Xiaomi hub was talking to a bunch of Chinese servers constantly It's not only Xiaomi issue: many Chinese top and noname smartphones stealing user data and show ads inside their UIs. Cheap hardware & users data mining - great business model. The same with apps: https://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/2019/01/es-file-explorer...

That’s why AI tech is much more advanced than any other Computing subjects in China, they get massive free data to train their networks.

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

#366

Post by melomal »

pferdone wrote: post #357
dylan604 wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this a serious question? How about don't contact any external server unless the user clicks an update button (or possibly on a schedule time the user has specifically allowed). After that, there is no legit reason for a device sensing the temperature in my home, a light switch, an electrical plug to ever call "home" about how it is being used. Maybe, just maybe, if the device detects that it is failing or other se…

I think you're both on the same page here, but (and I'm also guessing here) I think OP implies there's a certain bias when it comes to chinese servers. And I too have this feeling, that if it's a server in the "western world" not a lot of people would bat an eye. But if it's a chinese or russian server, now that's something "we don't want".

This is what I am trying to figure out. I have a UK focused website therefore I use UK based servers, US focused website I use US based servers.

Aren't most processing chips/hardware made in China for all major western tech companies anyway? I get the RU/China server suspiciousness but as far as I can tell, US unicorns are up to the same tricks and openly/brazenly pillaging data without any threat or fear.

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

#367

Post by pferdone »

purecoolnesss wrote: post #332
firebaze wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's incredibly naive to assume NSA/* doesn't do the same, even if that affects your daily life as a human/business owner about as much. I despise the chinese government - may it concern Uighurs or the treatment of Tibetans. Still I have a hard time believing none of my data collected by google is used by the US administration, which, as we know, is not always lead by a trustful person. Still, if I had to choose whom…

The difference between china and US collecting data is one is evil one is not but in reality that kind of data collection is unethical no matter who is doing it. To some of us there is not much difference.

Which is which? I'm very curious.

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

#369

Post by dodobirdlord »

Daho0n wrote: post #197
onethought wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia has similar laws also.

So does the US. The only real difference between countries is not if it is different but how each has implemented it in law. The result is the same.

Google publishes a transparency report with aggregate information on government requests for user data, and regularly challenges requests to reduce their scope. To pretend that this is the same as China is a joke.

https://support.google.com/transparencyreport/answer/9713961

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

#370

Post by amenod »

kennu wrote: post #317
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…

I have a cheap air quality meter which basically connects to an MQTT broker server in China to transmit its readings constantly. The phone app connects to the same MQTT server, subscribes to a topic and receives the readings. I guess this is a very simple way to do it. Too bad the MQTT server has no authentication so you can actually subscribe to any topic. Many IoT solutions seem to be made by developers not very ex…

Are you saying you can actually read the air quality readings of other users? That's... quite an oversight. :-/
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