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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)

#71

Post by kzawisto »

sodality2 wrote: post #50
kzawisto wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

How do you trust the hardware? Granted, how do you trust the hardware in any phone. But the risk may be higher if the entire production chain is in the one country with privacy/surveillance abuses.

Well you don't, but 1) no one can be trusted anyway. 2) one can analyze traffic after flashing to see if it is still phoning home. I won't expect it to, it's just too much hassle compared to doing it with software, just for sake of someone who flashed custom ROM. If you have real reasons to be worried about Chinese spying (like business/government work) then obviously you wouldn't buy any hardware like that anyway.

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

#73

Post by walrus01 »

neltnerb wrote: post #64
walrus01 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

From a purely pragmatic point of view, a lot of especially Eastern Europe and Eastern Germany are viscerally aware that "anything you're doing socially, religiously, politically" will always somehow include something illegal and worrying about surveillance results in self-censorship. I really don't think that's unreasonable, the fall of the berlin wall was within living memory. I hope that the NSA isn't going to do a…

I am not a European but I am fairly sure I would have two very different opinions on this, relative to my personal perceived level of threat from my own national government, if I were a citizen and resident of the Netherlands or, for instance, Belarus.

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

#74

Post by powerapple »

Unfortunately, xiaomi's business model is to sell hardwares with little to none profit margin and make profit as a internet company, I.e. advertising and so on. I give them the benefit of doubt that 90 days renewal was added and didn't work due to not unit tested maybe. Still, it is the same ad business as fb. I love the look of their phones, but I would pay for an iPhone for the benefit of secure os and better privacy

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

#75

Post by itsoktocry »

yumraj wrote: post #51
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?

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

Unless you get a target on your back, in which case the American company will provide the American law enforcement agencies with whatever data they want to take action against you and your family.

Your assertion is just a variation of "if you're not doing anything wrong you shouldn't worry about spying".

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

#76

Post by cwhiz »

chomp wrote: post #52
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 g…

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

I'm referring to Google with that valuation.

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

Propaganda? An oligarch is a rich person with a lot of political influence. Sounds like an average billionaire to me.

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

I don't think I have ever seen a mainstream publication refer to Google apps and services as spyware. Which of course is what they are.

>Why are you so upset about Xiaomi getting called out?

Only annoyed at the obviously biased language.

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

#77

Post by LegitShady »

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.

You can never be sure what's hiding in the hardware, if you already don't trust the software.

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

#78

Post by dicomdan »

powerapple wrote: post #74

Unfortunately, xiaomi's business model is to sell hardwares with little to none profit margin and make profit as a internet company, I.e. advertising and so on. I give them the benefit of doubt that 90 days renewal was added and didn't work due to not unit tested maybe. Still, it is the same ad business as fb. I love the look of their phones, but I would pay for an iPhone for the benefit of secure os and better priva…

They give away low cost hardware because it's a military branch of the government whose purpose is establishing a global surveillance network. Being profitable is a nice to have but not a primary purpose as they get subsidized by the state regardless.

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

#79

Post by somethingwitty1 »

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.

I'm not sure oligarch means what you are thinking it does. Here is a wiki article which might help clarify why you'll sometimes hear the term used when describing certain Russian billionaires and why you won't generally hear the term used for billionaires from other countries: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_oligarch

Note: it also isn't a derogatory term, as it appears to be implied here, it just is an identifier of how wealth was accumulated.

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

#80

Post by LegitShady »

dheera wrote: post #72

In other news, Xiaomi Roborock vacuum cleaners require you to enable GPS permissions and transmit back Wi-Fi PASSWORDS and floor maps back to their server. They've really been on a privacy invasion spree lately.

...I returned a scale to amazon that required an app on my phone and location be on when its registered. For a scale. Wouldn't work without it.
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