Replying to Avatar Vitor Pamplona

Sure. But at least you can pay Google to get out of Google. You can't pay Microsoft to remove ads on Windows. You can't pay Apple to remove all Apple controls on a Mac.

Graphene does get rid of every hint of Google in the device.
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ChipTuner 9mo ago

Please correct me. But it simply cannot. There are black box binaries for their hardware that are not open. What is open is your ability to obtain them, but the source is not available. So the drivers for the camera and modem and whatnot are not sealed. I'm sure some have reverse engineered some of them but I have to assume (because I still hear stories of this) that many are still black box binaries.

And you aren't paying Google for that service that for you, so it is no different than using community tools to cleanse a Windows PC of adware and telemetry.

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Vitor Pamplona 9mo ago

Sure, but that is true for a lot of drivers, modems and so on. Linux itself is full of binary payloads as well for most laptops and many motherboards out there. It's the best we can get situation.

It's definitely way better than running a regular Windows or Mac system with everything installed.

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ChipTuner 9mo ago

That's all I'm asking of people like you is to just be honest with people about what they're getting. I just want to make yall say it.

It's not a silver bullet and there are many gotchas. I also don't believe it's the BEST we have in terms of privacy, it's the highest convenience trade off. But I have no proof of that.

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Ben Weeks ⚡ 9mo ago

May we ask what you run?

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ChipTuner 9mo ago

Run what?

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Ben Weeks ⚡ 9mo ago

Mobile OS. I like the sound of Graphene OS but have the same concerns about only running on a Pixel. There’s only a few companies I would like to support less than Apple, and Google is one of them ;-)

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Ben Weeks ⚡ 9mo ago

That said, with recent shenanigans between Apple and the UK government and backdoors, it has peaked my interest again.

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ShiShi21m 9mo ago

It's the best option for most people.

It's also the best option if you want to have a device that you use for Bitcoin that's completely detached from your identity.

Just never use it on your home network, keep it in a faraday bag, and have a second faraday bag for your daily driver smartphone so you don't use it in the same location.

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ChipTuner 9mo ago

Aweful bold of you to suggest it's the BEST for MOST people...

if I don't use it as a phone why does it matter what device I have... Just use a laptop and a landline?

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ShiShi21m 9mo ago

Most people seeking privacy tech, yes it's the best option I've seen so far.

& Mobile devices are more easily faraday'ed & transported.

Using this setup with e.sim like silent link is definitely the best option I've seen for most people.

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ShiShi21m 9mo ago

From my understanding what you mentioned is downstream from execution commands / CPU.

Theres no way for Google or any other service to reach those modules unless you give it permission on Graphene.

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Vitor Pamplona 9mo ago

Unless it's the modem itself. Which is connected... by definition. But that is true for almost every modem you can buy.

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ShiShi21m 9mo ago

Your modem can leak IP addressing correct?

That's the risk here?

Not really search history or other logs?

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Vitor Pamplona 9mo ago

That and some information about the device, which IPs it is accessing and so on. A malicious firmware can periodically ping any server without the user knowing, which would allow the server to triangulate the phone via cell towers.

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ShiShi21m 9mo ago

Great,

So if this is your threat models just never use it at home - put it in a faraday bag & buy the pixel with cash.

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Vitor Pamplona 9mo ago

Correct. But if you are at that level, I would also make sure there are no other electronics in your house. Anything can have a hidden modem these days, even your fridge.