Are Xiaomi browsers spyware? Yes, they are (2020) • Hacker News Board

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

#51

Post by yumraj » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:44 PM UTC

cwhiz wrote: post #29

Chinese browser collects your data? Spyware. American company collects your data? $1,400,000,000,000 valuation. This reminds me of how we call Russian billionaires "oligarchs" but we just call American billionaires...billionaires.

Chinese browser collects data for CCP which will use it for spying and for action against you, your family and your country.

American company will collect data to show you ads and profit.

Are they really same?

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

#52

Post by chomp » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:44 PM UTC

cwhiz wrote: post #29

Chinese browser collects your data? Spyware. American company collects your data? $1,400,000,000,000 valuation. This reminds me of how we call Russian billionaires "oligarchs" but we just call American billionaires...billionaires.

1.) Xiaomi worth billions of dollars, not 1.4 trillion, but way more than most companies.

2.) People call out Google all. the. time. There's an article here weekly about dumping Google, finding alternatives, praying for antitrust regulation, etc.

3.) We don't commonly call billionaires who live in the middle east, china, and other non-western countries "oligarchs", do you know why?

Why are you so upset about Xiaomi getting called out?

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

#53

Post by danlugo92 » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:46 PM UTC

aroman wrote: post #26

nottorp wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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...

A10 or A01 are pretty slow

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

#54

Post by xioxox » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:47 PM UTC

La1n wrote: post #5

Darmody wrote: post #3

I'm using a firewall to block tens of IP addresses and several apps. Why would Xiaomi tell me to download a 26MB update from their store if the one from Google Play, where I downloaded the app it's less than 15MB? I'll be getting rid of this phone by the end of the month.

Most Xiaomi phones are relatively easy to root/unlock and install a new rom on.

Unfortunately Google is making it much harder to run ROMs now due to the new Safety-Net bootloader checks. You'll no longer to be able to use many bank apps (or even the McDonalds app!).

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

#55

Post by theropost » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:48 PM UTC

cwhiz wrote: post #29

Chinese browser collects your data? Spyware. American company collects your data? $1,400,000,000,000 valuation. This reminds me of how we call Russian billionaires "oligarchs" but we just call American billionaires...billionaires.

But does the Chinese company fund your pension plans, pay wealth back to the government, and employ tax paying citizens in America? Where do you want to asset valuations to be located - in your own nation, or another?

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

#56

Post by ClumsyPilot » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:48 PM UTC

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…

Maybe they are spreading rhe risk, now i can be spied on by agencies with conflicting interests, so noone has a complete picture?

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

#57

Post by Kelamir » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:49 PM UTC

okl wrote: post #43

dangwu wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're definitely both spyware at this point. Shoutout to Firefox, which makes a conscious effort to block tracking cookies and not collect data.

By the grace of their benefactor (Google)?

Could you elaborate your point?

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

#58

Post by squarefoot » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:50 PM UTC

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.

I just bought the same phone as a gift for my girlfriend, and was considering getting one for me one day since it's a really nice piece of hardware for the price. Some searches around brought this link of a community of non official developers attempting to clean up the system from some preinstalled junk.

https://xiaomi.eu/community/

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

#59

Post by passivate » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:50 PM UTC

cwhiz wrote: post #29

Chinese browser collects your data? Spyware. American company collects your data? $1,400,000,000,000 valuation. This reminds me of how we call Russian billionaires "oligarchs" but we just call American billionaires...billionaires.

They're just labels. Good polls are hard to do, and so it is quite hard to know whether these labels hold value in mainstream thought. For e.g. Do people under oppressive/spying regimes see Google in the same light when it comes to data collection?

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

#60

Post by monkeyingaround » Mon, Mar 01, 2021, 7:50 PM UTC

Xiaomi phones are insane, at least BlackShark. They replace virtually all the major user level stuff of Android with extreme data collecting alternatives. They then make it so that you cannot disable many of them (via adp, custom ROMs etc.) without bricking the phone, I'm talking wallpaper or clock apps that run with full, non-modifiable privileges. They subsidize cheap hardware with truly insane level of tracking.

They will also stop allowing custom ROMs once they've built up enough reputation, some newer models already will never have custom ROMs.