Using such a DA from big Tech has the potential to become the ultimate tool of control: you don't just manipulate the narratives in public but you can create a personalized "reality" for every user.
However, I am looking forward building something like this in a sovereign tech stack on my own hardware, under my control. An ultimate ad blocker for online and offline. A bullshit filter, that helps me manage information overload and all the informational noise. An alarm when someone hostile approaches. You get the idea. Cool stuff!
The question is: who controls the stack? Which master does the AI listen to?
It all comes down the seizing the means of computation.
The fun brave new world of digital assistants. Daniel Miessler ties it all together in a blog post: https://danielmiessler.com/p/ai-predictable-path-7-components-2024
- They have their own Index, and don't just rebrand Google or Bing search (but they also consider other indexes for some results)
- They have Stephen Wolfram on their board and are integrating Wolfram Alpha in their search results
- They have no incentives to show you enshittyfied content (ads, sponsored content, affiliate links, SEO bullcrap) as they have a classical subcription model instead of data based one.
- They filter out sites with a lot of trackers and ads (20+)
- They boost pages from the "small web"
"Nations are violent to the extend that they are powerful." - Chomsky
To put it simply:
- If you run even a single app with integrated Google Play libraries, running sandboxed GSF won't enable any more telemetry capability from Google.
- MicroG's spoofing approach means it will likely brake at some point and nuke your whole setup.
- Running MicroG as a privileged system app increases attack surface.
- Spoofing also means less app compatibility.
- MicroG still runs proprietary Google code.
Announcing my new nostr:npub1235tem4hfn34edqh8hxfja9amty73998f0eagnuu4zm423s9e8ksdg0ht5 guide!
Reclaiming some mobile phone privacy no longer requires crappy hardware, unacceptable trade-offs or command line knowledge.
Install Graphene in under 10 minutes with just a laptop and a web browser. Learn how👇
https://bitcoiner.guide/grapheneos
This isn't just a guide on how to install @GrapheneOS
, it's full walk through of everything you need to know before removing Apple or Google from your mobile life.
The guide covers:
- Tips on easing the transition
- The install process
- How to customize GrapheneOS
- The various different methods you can install apps
- An extensive list of Apple/Google app alternatives
- An honest discussion about the GrapheneOS trade-offs
- Sandboxed Google Play Services
- eSims and 'Profiles'
- Backups
I hope you enjoy reading this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you do, please give the guide a share so more people can learn about Graphene and opt out of the surveillance software they carry with them every day.
If you have any feedback or suggestions, get in touch.
🧡
Thanks for the great guide!
Here are some additions you could make:
- Sensors, network, scoped storage and scoped contacts permissions are unique to GrapheneOS, so it would make sense to mention them briefly.
- Your IMEI is exposed to Google during e-SIM provisioning. The e-SIM must be installed from the owner profile. After installation, you can delete Google Play Services again.
- For system-wide ad-blocking, AdGuard DNS can be used by setting `dns.adguard-dns.com` as the Private DNS domain.
- Organic Maps
- Breezy Weather
- Anonaddy (email aliases)
- Openreads
- Squaker (accountless Twitter client)
Works like a charm with Syncthing! Btw Obsidian is much more than just a notes app.
Geometric Weather isn't maintained anymore (since 2021). But there is a new fork with extended features under active development:
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning for improving location detection are disabled by default, unlike the stock OS. These can be toggled in Settings ➔ Location ➔ Location Services ➔ Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning. GrapheneOS itself doesn't currently include a supplementary location service based on Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning. These options impact whether apps such as sandboxed Google Play are able to use the functionality if you grant them the Location permission. GrapheneOS plans to eventually include an OS service based on local databases rather than a network-based service giving the user's location to a server whenever location is being used.
If you enable the above, location works as well as on stock android.
YOU WILL GET A BLUE CHECK AND BE HAPPY.
- Yuval Harari, Advisor to Klaus Schwab, World Economic Forum
https://video.twimg.com/amplify_video/1677319058037907460/vid/888x426/b-HBqxeTXE31uvKB.mp4?tag=14
This compilation is from a TED talk in 2015, and has nothing to do with Klaus Schwab or WEF. Harari warns of the possibility of AI taking away most jobs and thus making large parts of the population economically useless (in the sense that there is no demand for their workforce in the free market). Watch the original source video and don't let yourself be fooled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzj7Wg4DAbs
They raised 25k via donations & 370k via VC. Longterm they plan to offer additional app icons and user profile badges to project sponsors (similar to Signal), and earn money by operating parts of the network (e.g. high performance & commercial servers) without owning the network. See the blog post for more information: https://simplex.chat/blog/20230422-simplex-chat-vision-funding-v5-videos-files-passcode.html#why-is-it-a-commercial-company
It enables bloat free internet resources of all kinds. It eliminates the need for visiting ad, tracker & JS ridden websites just to find a piece of information (like a recipe). Instead nostr + LN can create a bloat free information economy.
This means we can make the internet a fun & wholesome place again. A network of sovereign individuals.