Privacy

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Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

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LineageOS is apparently not private? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 1 day ago by PragmaticIdealist@lemmy.zip to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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I'm planning on flashing LineageOS on my phone to debloat and to degoogle, and additionally to increase overall privacy but apparently from what I've heard here that it's not private enough or even at all?

I know about it being less secure because of the opened bootloader and the higher chances of you rooting to achieve what you want with a degoogled phone, but beyond that (especially privacy-wise) I don't know anything.

I've seen a video on how to degoogle it further, but surely it isn't all I need to do.

I need some education.

Unfortunately my phone is so obscure that it isn't supported by literally anything, but fortunately there's an unofficial port of LineageOS I found on Telegram, and that's the one I'll be using. So if you're thinking of suggesting another custom ROM, you're out of luck. Also you can't make me buy a Pixel - that thing ain't supported in my country (5G and others) and it's hella expensive as well.

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[–] Zak@lemmy.world 31 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Privacy isn't binary.

LineageOS without Gapps won't send information to Google unless you install something that does. It won't do a whole lot to prevent apps from collecting data like GrapheneOS does so it's up to you to evaluate the privacy implications of anything you install.

A locked bootloader protects against two attack vectors: malware modifying the operating system at runtime, and an unauthorized person with physical access installing a malicious operating system while you're not looking (an "evil maid" attack). The former is rare on Android. The latter is rare unless you're a high-value target or dating an abusive hacker.

[–] Clark@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

LineageOS sends connectivity checks, time adjustment requests and system webview (chromium by default and not easy to change) data to google servers as far as I know. Are you sure it doesn't send anything to google? On the other hand, there is an app Invizible Pro on FDroid, which is perfect to prevent such connections. Maybe you assume the user will install it?

[–] SatyrSack@quokk.au 4 points 1 day ago

Yeah, the core of DivestOS was to be a fork of LineageOS that has all the Google defaults like that changed to something else.

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