eOS DeGoogled Privacy Smartphone in the US Review(ramblinggit.com) |
eOS DeGoogled Privacy Smartphone in the US Review(ramblinggit.com) |
I've been using it on my old OnePlus for about a year now, and reasonably happy with it.
Every Samsung device on the compatibility page is the Exynos version only, so, that tells me anyone in the US hoping to repurpose their Snapdragon-based Galaxy phones is out of luck.
Can you expand on how LineageOS breaks the Android security model?
> Privacy - smartphones and their apps reporting where you are at, what you are doing, what you are looking for to third parties like Google and it’s advertising network.
Specifically the second part - their apps. Does e-os do something to prevent 3rd party apps from requiring extraneous permissions, or using those permissions to track/profile you?
I get that now the base OS itself isn't tracking/profiling you for adtech purposes, but frankly neither was your iPhone Xr. All of the creepy stuff has always been in the apps, and I don't see how this changes that.
There's also Warden [0], which does a decent job of stubbing out built-in trackers for your "must have" apps that are otherwise privacy-invading.
[0] https://www.xda-developers.com/warden-open-source-app-aurora...
I have no idea if this particular OS can do this. But it's a possible difference between proprietary and Free land, and where the Free world needs to head to fight back against nonconsensual permission demands.
Many Chinese roms have started to do this. They have option to provide fake or blank data when an app asks to access sensitive information.
I expect this to be available in stock android soon too.
Not all of it. Google embeds a lot of creepy into Android itself, including AOSP.
But apps are a legitimate concern with an easy, sensible solution --- don't install creepy apps.
eOS offers an alternative app store with non-creepy apps.
FDroid is another popular alternative store with only open source apps.
Some things are not available on these alternative stores. For these, I use Aurora store (load the client from FDroid) which lets me install just about anything from the Google Play store without a Google login and I can see how creepy an app is before I install it. They scan apps for trackers and show the results.
Finally, if all else fails, I can't find a suitable alternative and I really, really want a particular creepy app, I use an old phone (Moto G4 Play running eOS) with no personal info stored in it. About the only thing I have found that falls into this category is some banking and payment apps.
Bottom line: Non-creepy apps are available if you take the time to look for them. One of my personal favorites is TwinMe --- peer to peer video and messaging with no personal info required. Actually works better than the creepy stuff and my iOS friends like it too .
Is e Foundation a non-profit or a corporation?
e Foundation is a non-profit organization created to host, develop, support and promote pro privacy tech solutions. Some partner companies handle the commercial side of the project and help finance e Foundation.
How do you make money? Where are your revenues coming from?
Most of our incoming revenue comes from private and public donations. As a non-profit, we strongly rely on individual and corporate donations."
Basic questions
Who are the "partner companies" that "handle the commercial side" and "help finance" the foundation. If the foundation has a "commercial side" is it truly a non-profit organisation.
Who pays the salaries of the persons working for the foundation. What are those salaries.
Could Google or some other entity at some stage acquire the rights or assets of the foundation. If not, what are the legal protections against that scenario.
Are the individual and corporate donations anonymous. How can we be assured that the donors have no direct or indirect influence over the hiring decisions or operations of the foundation.
Reading these words from the author of this review of a privacy-specific smartphone destroys the author's credibility.
Doesn't tethering to this new service defeat the whole purpose of the project?
YES THEY WILL — I wouldn't even say it's "many" or "some", anymore.
"Most" is just insulting.
I'd evaluate what you're using, because it's likely to work just fine.
More details here: https://blogs.fsfe.org/larma/2016/microg-signature-spoofing-...
> I’d also like to point out a myths I heard regarding signature spoofing. Some people assume, that signature spoofing allows to break the Android signature security model and thus rogue applications can access private app storage. But in fact signature spoofing is only applied after installation if the permission was granted, it has no influence on the package manager security model.