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.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
They are For-profit
Reminder that FOSS is compatible with commercial licenses.
That is not to say /e/ is FOSS. But given the reality of the capitalist hellscape we live in, we should not shame developers (FOSS or not) for not opting to work for free.
Non profit dosent mean everyone who works there cant earn money.
It just means, that you as Shareholder cant just sit on your ass and collect the revenue from your company.
If you own a non profit, and you work as for example a Dev or the head of PR, you can still have a hefty 30$/hour salary.
And the other way around, having a For profit just tells me that you do so little, that you can't even justify employing yourself at a non profit and giving you an own salary that way, because a non profit has to disclose just how much money you give yourself while underpaying your workers
30$/hr
In 2025 america ain't really money for somebody with a skill set to do this type of work in the US at least.
Otherwise agree. But realistically Foss will need to outcompete corpos commercially and that requires normies to make these consumption choice while Foss gains mass market appeal.
Obviously fedi is pro FOSS but we are just a rounding error as of now.
30 /hour would be a laughably low salary for someone doing that type of development, I would not call that "hefty"
This is a FUD post. Honestly this is just doing a disservice to privacy in general.
Of course /e/OS is not perfect but the title is wrong (/e/OS didn't suddenly start sending data to OpenAI without user permission, they are relying on OpenAI for a service that is optional PLUS they are explicitly saying that they setup a proxy to anonymize content!) but the content is also wrong :
TL;DR: /e/OS is not perfect but it's damn well better than Google!
Also important clarification, the Murena services (backup, STT highlighted there, etc) are NOT MANDATORY! When you boot you can decide to use them, make an account, etc (yes, like other services, including Google) but you just as well refuse and use your device. There is NO account required. The goal is to help people who are not yet self-hosting everything have an alternative rather than... have nothing then give up and fallback to iOS or Googled Android.
Of course /e/OS is not perfect
Let me stop you here.
Every phone /e/ supports, Lineage or calyx supports too. Lineage and Calyx are both non profit, implement an actually secure Backup system by default, and do not try to sell you a subscription.
So why should I be defending a company that's worse then the Alternative, that's obligated to extract the most possible profit from its costumers, that says it is Private, yet sends your backup and Photos unencrypted to murena servers?
And no, you can't jUsT uSe aNoThEr bAcKuP sErViCe. These require root access by default, so you can't just install Seedvault.
Also, I don't give a fuck if the data to OpenAI is proxied or not. OpenAI is still not Private, and Murena has other, on device, Open source Voice to text options. Yet they, the self proclaimed Private OS, rely on a non private service
let me stop you here.
... So why should I be defending a company that’s worse then the Alternative, that’s obligated to extract the most possible profit from its costumers, that says it is Private, yet sends your backup and Photos unencrypted to murena servers?
You'd have benefited from not stopping there, at least reading the bold parts : nobody has to use Murena servers. You turn on the device, say no, use whatever alternative services you want, that's it. What Murena (not /e/OS) offers is buying a phone with a working deGoogled Android device. There is a market for that. You don't have to buy from them and it's enough. You can criticize it as much as you want, here and elsewhere, and honestly your criticism is welcomed so that they can improve, just don't make things up.
Source : I'm backing up my photos locally with Immich, no Murena account, no Murena services.
Edit: thanks for sharing https://github.com/seedvault-app/seedvault looks interesting.
nobody has to use Murena servers.
Im just saying, that Murena, with their current services, is in no way better than Google. Also, that can change at any time, since the one making the Services and the one making the OS is the same Murena, so theres nothing stopping them to vertically integrate their Services more and more, until it becomes the only real option
just like Google and Apple did it.
Google started as a company that gave extraordinary Services for cheap to people, and only once it got popular, they started selling user data and doing questionable shit as result of them not really caring about Data Security and storing data unencrypted on their Servers.
Murena is a company that is giving extraordinary Services for sometimes Cheaper than the non Privacy friendly option, and once it gets popular, they still will be reserving the right to start selling user data and do Questionable shit as a result of them not caring about Data Security and storing data unencrypted on their Servers.
Yes, they did not sell your data. Yet. They did not release your Data to authorities. Yet. Their Service, being unencrypted, baked deep into the OS (with their Backup) shows just how much they could go that route at any time, and by having a mostly noobie audience, they wont get much shit for it probably
For me, its just like the Mastodon vs. Bluesky thing
Yes, /e/ is currently better than Google, but /e/ can turn as bad as Google any time. Unlike something like Proton or other Backup systems, since they have the option to encrypt your Photos and therefore make them Availible only to the user.
GrapheneOs continuing to be the only unclowned rom
Linaege and Calyx is OK too, since they actually develope software (Linaege does it from scratch, Calyx develops Seedvault etc). even though they are not as rigid as Graphene, they are still ok for normal ungoogled stuff, and to be honest, most people dont need the security Graphene provides them with.
My problem is with Roms like /E/ OS or Iode, which essentially add nothing of value, but instead Fork Linaege, remove Seedvault and everything what isn't essential, and sell what is essentially a DNS blocker (which you can just use on your VPN slot via apps like DNSnet, or Server side like Adguard or Mullvad DNS) as a new ROM, complete with Subscription Service and (in the case of E OS) even with non encrypted Backup, essentially begging someone to compromise their Servers and steal peoples Photos and Data.
Graphene is the biggest joke of them all. Only works on Google hardware? lmao
That's because they're the only ones that meet the project's requirements at the moment, but that may soon change soon. Maybe you've seen the news that the project is in talks with an OEM for them to meet the requirements and have official support for GrapheneOS for some of the existing devices.
THANK YOU! Such a glaring hole in graphene os, I dont know how it doesnt get talked about more!
https://lemmy.world/post/27344091
Hardware-level components like Titan M can execute processes that users cannot audit or disable, raising concerns about opaque data collection.
It is an isolated component without networking. This is not evidence that unknown data collection is occurring. You need to provide actual evidence that it is.
You need to provide actual evidence that it is.
How do you expect me, or anyone else, to provide you with the inner working details of Google's surreptitiously closed-as-fuck custom SoCs? That's the entire basis of the problem, it's closed-as-fuck and there is nothing that you or I or anyone else can do to verify that it isn't malicious.
At this point, you have to choose whether or not to trust the manufacturer. Given that the manufacturer is the most notoriously data-hungry surveillance corporation in the history of the entire world, I choose not to trust them. I wouldn't trust them, even if they were to claim not to spy on us with these phones. (Incidentally, that is not something they claim.)
Open source or source availability is not a requirement for auditing a system. There would be evidence that would have almost certainly been found by now if this was the case. It is up to you, or the claimant, to prove their claims. I can say that there has not been any evidence of data collection by hardware components found, despite years of Pixel devices being tested by security researchers and mobile forensics companies. Not only that, the actual technical capabilities of the hardware (isolated component without networking capabilities) backs that up.
What do you have except fearmongering?
Creepy. Fixed link: https://lemmy.world/post/27344091
I fixed mine too. Copy-pasting from email broke it.
no u
Being serious, what is /e/ ?
Alternative version of android that removes google stuff, basically.
Use GrapheneOS or AOSP GSI if you're not on Pixel.
never heard of AOSP GSI, I'm on CalyxOS rn but I might temporarily switch because they're unmaintained whike doing their audit.
This is the site you should visit for GSI info: https://github.com/TrebleDroid/treble_experimentations/wiki
so, GSI is just android with fast updates and the possibility to only have foss or have no apps? that's not what I need, I want a system with microg or nothing instead of google services, only foss apps but ideally no apps preinstalled(that, GSI can do) and also privacy features like microphone and camera blocking. I think I'll just use lineage, or install a real linux on it.
Real Linux is definitely the way - but GSI Roms are totally capable of microG if I'm not mistaken! On that github's FAQ page it mentions the FLOSS version comes packed with f-droid; microG can be installed from there and works fine - it doesnt need to be bundled in the ROM! 🙂
Or just stick with the vanilla gsi & you've got bare aosp. Throw F-droid on there, pull down microG and bam!
I am a right muppet. I recommended e/OS a few days ago.
heres me old 12 year old Samsung S4.
Its got the e/OS, recovery-e-2.2-r-20240719418592-dev-jfltexx running with android 11
Those were that days. 16gb with 2gb ram, a fucking powerhouse, and more importantly, no fucking ai shit
I should say its my kitchen timer.
No more udates.
Working like a charm, battery last a week.
looks like I wont be using anymore of e/OS roms.
Half my family have e/OS installed.
I will be busy removing e/OS, and that ai shit with it, over the next few days.
