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GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

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Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#591

Post by empyrrhicist »

abustamam wrote: post #450
empyrrhicist wrote: post #440

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One time I had to reset my password with the power company - they had such a system, and the lady had to read me something like: Uh4zB4DP55WD! Apparently I was a bit salty with the system when I set it. The fact that she shouldn't have even been able to look up the password in the first place due to hashing was lost on her.

That's pretty funny on a few levels, not in the least that they required a "secure" password like that but stored them in plain text.

Yeah I was a bit shocked... like... you're not supposed to know that!

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#592

Post by Aachen »

m00dy wrote: post #288

If you are using social media, you might get a shadowban, just because you needed to unlock your bootloader to install this OS. the OS is great, but too risky in certain situations.

Try a social media that is not antisocial. HN, Mastodon, Tildes, various forums... lots of communities and tech content are available in browsers or via open source apps

I'm not aware of any that bans you when not using an allowlisted OS, so maybe it was something else that caused this shadowban, or (more likely) that's just my bubble

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#593

Post by microtonal »

Aachen wrote: post #461
microtonal wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree that the locking down is truly stupid. I don't agree that it is stupid. Both banking on a Windows PC or on an unlocked + rooted phone is potentially catastrophic. Windows because of the prevalence of malware, unlocked phones with custom AOSP forks because people download 'ROMs' (as they call them) from the most shady sites. Once 10,000s of Euros are siphoned from a bank account, it's usually the bank that has…

Needing to use a verified boot chain with keys that the bank trusts is essentially the same as using the authenticator device from said bank, except this one costs 100€ or more, has a microphone and camera built in, and you use it for private messages as well. That's not a future I want to live in We have secure hardware already, it's called a smartcard and is what you find in all bank cards, SIM cards, authenticator…

Needing to use a verified boot chain with keys that the bank trusts is essentially the same as using the authenticator device from said bank,

It's not, because even though the authenticator is secure, you are entering the auth codes in a browser in general purpose desktop OS with (if you use Windows or desktop Linux) little to no sandboxing outside the browser. You are one malware app (or NodeJS package for tech users who claim they'll never download malware) for your session getting hijacked.

The sad reality is that phones (and some tablets) are the only relatively secure computing environments that we have. Thanks to Windows with it decades of piled up legacy and Linux with large sandbox and secure boot-hating parts of its community, we cannot have nice things.

(The part about the Linux community, which I'm also part of is a generalization, but the hostility against Flatpak, secure boot, etc. is pretty big.)

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#595

Post by raron »

wcallahan wrote: post #506
phantom784 wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially in Europe! They shouldn't be forcing you to run an OS from an American company.

American here who values individual liberties greatly. I know things are politically tense at the moment, but I’m not sure I understand this popular contemporary sentiment. I’ve always believed governments and companies should be regarded with fairly low trust, and the behavior of big tech companies and some recent government actions are great examples why. But what disappoints me a bit about this moment is (the perh…

I don't think this is about the current situation in the US.

Big US tech companies are infamous for not following the EU's data protection rules, and they wouldn't even able to, because some US regulations (I think PRISM, FISA and others) are incompatible with the requirements of EU GDPR. This dates back at lest to Snowden leaks and the invalidation of EU-US data protection agreements by Schrems judgments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Schrems#Complaints_with_th...

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#596

Post by I_am_tiberius »

birdsongs wrote: post #503
ghrl wrote: post #306

"Break free from Google" and buy a Pixel phone from them to do so. But unironically Pixels are currently some of the best actually open phones. They do not lock down or require shady practices for unlocking the bootloader (although they do require a network check once that happens automatically, but it will permanently allow unlocking the bootloader if successful once. Pixels are very easy to restore and almost un-br…

Graphene is supposedly working with a major OEM manufacturer to have future device support independent of google, on a flagship device. It's been in the works for awhile but it's very exciting. https://www.androidauthority.com/graphene-os-major-android-o...

I hope it's Fairphone.

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#598

Post by Itoldmyselfso »

fsflover wrote: post #548
no-reply wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GOS has minimum hardware requirements and most of the available smartphones don't meet them

This is a contradiction. There is nothing "minimal" about a requirement that excludes every device but one. Also some people (me) value independence from Google more than the highest degree of security (which relies on Google hardware).

You are not independent from Google if you purchase an android device from another manufacturer. You're then having your data sent to both Google and that manufacturer, resulting in far worse privacy overall than with just Google, not to mention worse security at hardware level. If you don't want to "support" Google, just buy any used Pixel 6 to 10 series.

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#599

Post by Aachen »

no-reply wrote: post #531
Aachen wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The whole reason why GrapheneOS is superior to its alternative is because they do all that. What is "its alternative"? > I also wish they could support non-Google phones, but that's a problem coming from the manufacturers, not from GrapheneOS. The manufacturers aren't blocking the installing of GrapheneOS...

GOS has minimum hardware requirements and most of the available smartphones don't meet them

That's like saying Tulip blocked the installation of Vista because they didn't install enough RAM to run it

The OS makers don't have to go out of their way to support a device they don't want to (that's the beauty of open source passion projects), but it's also not like any manufacturer (that allows bootloader unlocking or ships an unlocked bootloader) is blocking GrapheneOS or anyone else from doing it, which the quote implies in my reading (maybe other people read it differently)

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#600

Post by Tepix »

haskman wrote: post #410
rcMgD2BwE72F wrote: post #273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>4. Android QuickShare works! Does that require being logged into a Google account? How to ensure Google knows nothing about your shares? I have Graphene w/ Google Play Services (required for my job) and would love a easy way to share files/info with various devices (incl. iOS/macOS which I remember should work with QuickShare in the future) but will avoid a service that shares data with Google.

Unfortunately yes, and I am signed into my Google account for it.

That's a hard pass.
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