I want to come back around to GrapheneOS and Google Pixel phones. I'm sure some people think I was saying that "GrapheneOS was suss"... If you go back to my note, (linked below) I didn't say that. Read this note to understand what I was actually thinking, expressed more clearly.
I understand why GrapheneOS uses those phones. They are head and shoulders more open and more secure than any other phone out there. No reason to get into the details, I concede this point.
What I don't understand is why Google makes a phone that is so secure and so open, but that doesn't complete well in the marketplace. Or rather, it's not that I don't understand it, I might very well understand it. I question it.
Google was founded to build the best technology and get the most users, just like any other company, but with assistance from and to the US government they become a spyware company. They leveraged that capability to dominate the advertising business. Their modus operandi has been to create the best stuff, lure people to use it (google search, gmail, android, etc) and then surveil these customers and leverage that data for profit (at a minimum) or on behalf of "the blob" in Washington (at worst).
My hypothesis is that google creates this best-phone-for-security best-phone-for-alternative-operating-systems as a means of luring security-minded people (high value targets) to their hardware. Of course this is not something the GrapheneOS people would be aware of. But they would inadvertently be a honey trap, useful stooges in a sense. I don't think GrapheneOS is suss... but I find the situation in totality to be a bit suspicious.
This is just a hypothesis.
If India or China (or another country that is clearly not too Western-aligned) produces a phone that is just as open and just as secure, I would strongly welcome that. I'm sure the GrapheneOS team would (if they have the manpower to do it) build for that phone too. And that is what I wish to call for.
Until then, I just updated to the Google Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS and maybe I have privacy, maybe I don't (doesn't really matter too much to me, but I prefer it and I like to push back wherever I can because we ought to have it).
As for non-Android phones, I just spent far too much time considering those options. They are still far far behind in usability, and I can't recommend any.
