this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
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Get a Google Pixel. Use GrapheneOS.
Step 1: Give the surveillance company money
I doubt they make much, if any money, on the hardware. I paid ~$100 for my P7 w/ P5 trade-in
They make the most open and secure hardware, full stop.
"full stop"
https://murena.com/
The Murena 2 doesn't have a secure element like Pixels do with their Titan M chip. That is also the reason why the Graphene devs don't bother with porting their OS to phones like the Fairphone or Murena. The only Android phone that can be as secure if not more secure than an iPhone is the Google Pixel running GrapheneOS. Edit: You can watch this video to learn why a secure element is important for maintaining good security: https://piped.video/watch?v=yTeAFoQnQPo
The Titan M chip is a Trusted Platform Module. The pixel phone isn't the only one to have that. How To Geek has a simple explanation. Stock Android can take advantage of it from the get go thanks to the hardware backed keystore.
Verified boot is not Google Pixel related either. It's been there since Android 4.4. It isn't hardware related either as standard PCs have something similar: UEFI which allows secure boot. Here's a great article on how it works with linux.
The rest of the video focuses on software related security, not hardware. I find it very hard to believe that no other vendor doesn't fulfill the specs required for GrapheneOS. Honestly, I believe the devs just want to limit the amount of work they have for themselves, which is fine, but they don't have to go to the lengths of claiming "Google is the only vendor to make secure hardware". That just doesn't seem believable at all.
AFAIK the Titan M series is by far the strongest implementation that can be found in a phone. I'm not aware of any other commercially available chip that has support for so many security features like Insider Attack resistance, the Weaver API, Android Strongbox, etc. Also, there are still many phones on the market, that don't have a secure element at all.
...yes? Was there something you wanted to add?
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Better than giving them your data. They can't use your money to ruin your life, but they can very well do that with your data.
You're kidding right? Money can't ruin lives?
It definitely can. But Google won't randomly spend money in order to ruin your life. They will do that with your data though as can be seen in many unfortunate cases like these: https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/google-geofence-location-data-avondale-wrongful-arrest-molina-gaeta-11426374 https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/technology/google-surveillance-toddler-photo.html And it's not just Google. Any data you expose can and will at some point be used to absolutely fuck you. The Snowden leaks have proven this.
That's a direct impact, for sure, but money gives them power to build better surveillance, influence the public, influence politics, buy up competition and so much more. They affect you indirectly and over a much longer time-period.
Pixels are too expensive. And you will support private data hungry evil company.
My Pixel 6a was 300 bucks, it's not that expensive and I get security updates until 2027. With 8th Generation Pixels even get 7 years of updates.
Pixels are the only phones that allow you to fully erase everything related to Google and at the same time keeping good security.
Compared to Apple?
Compared to the other Android-based phone manufacturers.
Privacy shouldn't be so expensive.